


Retail Nightmares

by Insanitys_Replica



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Are fast-slow-burns a thing?, Arrogant!Sasuke, Bad Flirting, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Constipation, Fluff, I'm making them a thing, M/M, Miscommunication, POV Uchiha Sasuke, Pining, Sakura is too smart, Sasuke thinks he's cool, Some Humor, Some angst, Tactile!Naruto, This drags on honestly, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Touchy-Feely Naruto, more like no communication, naruto is oblivious, retail stories, sasuke is an idiot, some strong language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-03 10:06:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 46,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13338972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insanitys_Replica/pseuds/Insanitys_Replica
Summary: The one good thing about working retail is absolutely nothing, except maybe his blond manager, Uchiha Sasuke learns. SNS





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a one-shot, but it got away from me and I've written 25k+ words of I don't even know what LOL. This came about because I wanted to see more kinda pining/stubborn Sasuke and more kinda oblivious/touchy-feely Naruto. It's just a fluffy indulgence of mine so don't take it too seriously, hope you still enjoy though! 
> 
> Also, I've tried to maintain characteristic traits but since this is set in an AU where both still have families, there might be some OOCness since both are more or less psychologically healthy. 
> 
> P.S. I've tried my best at editing but I originally wrote this in a different tense, then decided to change it, so I'm sure you'll find some mistakes but ughh I can't look at it anymore.

_WE’RE HIRING!!!_

 

Dark eyes narrow, the sign is mocking him. He’s sure of it. Or maybe it’s the universe. Either way, he’s being mocked and Uchiha Sasuke doesn’t appreciate it. 

Sasuke runs his eyes over the cosmetics and skin care store nestled to the right of the mall’s main entrance. He needed a job, but he wasn’t sure if he was desperate enough to work retail-- at a _mall_ no less. His current job working in the campus library wasn’t enough to pay his bills, but he liked the job because it actually gave him the opportunity to study while he worked but it’s barely covering his expenses. 

The twenty-year-old weighs his options, on the one hand, they might have a flexible schedule, the pay might be better which would definitely help him relax with his finances a bit. On the other hand, it was _retail_. He’d heard the stories and he’d made sure to avoid working retail during his teenage years. Flashes of Itachi’s drained face reminded him of just how much of a blood-sucking job this would be. His older brother is almost never fazed by anything, but working a few months at a department store had left him a surly, exhausted, and unpleasant mess. That was pretty much Sasuke on a perpetual daily basis. 

Not to mention the headache-inducing customer stories he’d relay over dinner with their parents. Yes, Sasuke vowed he’d avoid retail jobs the same way he avoided public bathrooms. 

Sasuke takes another sweeping look over the store’s interior, noting the various products stacked neatly across glass shelves. He notes the store’s relative lack of customers despite it being a Saturday afternoon—hell, he couldn’t even find whoever’s running the store. 

As if on cue, a blond head pops up from behind the register’s counter, a corded phone in his hand and face animated as he spoke into it. He takes in the guy’s form; he didn’t look that much older than Sasuke if at all, and he seemed to be friendly which was probably a requirement for the job, something Sasuke definitely, severely lacked. 

Sasuke stares at the boy, he looks talkative too and Sasuke isn’t exactly the talking type. The college Junior sighs, the more he thought about this, the more obvious it becomes that he isn’t suited for the job. Somehow though, he finds himself making the decision to at least ask about the job. 

Sasuke takes the few steps needed to reach the blond guy, who’d hung up and was bent over a few delivery box. Sasuke could hear him muttering a few curses under his breath, so he clears his throat. 

At the sound, the blond’s spine snaps to attention, his head bangs against the shelf he was bent under and Sasuke suppresses a wince, the blond curses rather loudly as he whips around to face Sasuke, his eyes bright and welcoming and a tad apologetic. Sasuke notes with a start that they were blue, uncommon in Japan. Contacts perhaps? 

“Welcome! I’m Naruto, how may I help you?” his voice had a bright undertone to it, sort of charming in its boyishness, though he was still rubbing the spot where he bumped his head. 

Sasuke clears his throat again and shrugs, “I wanted to ask about the job.” 

“Oh. Yeah, are you interested in applying?” Naruto’s eyes give him a fast once-over, probably checking if his appearance is suitable for the job. Sasuke knows it is. He was raised to maintain a crisp and proper appearance at all times after all. 

“Maybe. I’d like to know some specifics first before I make a decision.” he says, to which Naruto gives him a relaxed nod. 

“Alright, shoot.” Naruto leans forward on the counter and gives Sasuke an encouraging smile. It kind of ticked the Uchiha off a bit, the overly friendly attitude of retail workers had always set him on edge. Like they were always trying too hard, but this guy seemed oddly...genuine. 

“Salary?” 

Naruto chuckles, “Around twelve-thousand yen per hour. Plus you get bonuses at the end of the month if you sell enough products.” he then points to a colorful looking shelf, “These are our seasonal products, you get an extra five-hundred yen for each one you sell on top of the monthly bonus.” Naruto pauses, “Oh, we also get a quarterly bonus regardless of individual performance.” 

Sasuke didn’t let his surprise show on his face, but he definitely was surprised. Though it made sense since it would encourage the workers to push products onto prospective customers, bonuses will always be a great incentive. 

“What about work hours? I’m still a university student.” Sasuke fingers the bag’s strap across his chest, remembering he still has a lot of assignments to submit before Monday. 

Naruto grins at him, “I am too, man. You’ll be working full-time but the schedule is flexible you just gotta plan ahead with the others working here and figure out what works best for all of us.” Naruto straightens as he makes a dismissive motion with his hands, “Plus, any hours you miss during the week you can make up on the weekend. I’ve worked here for two years and I’ve never had trouble managing my schedule. Everyone’s pretty much in the same boat.” 

Sasuke frowns, “Are they all students working full-time?” 

Naruto nods, “A couple are part-time students working full-time, but yeah. Students.” 

“What about you?” Sasuke asks.

Naruto blinks at him, probably a bit surprised at the question but answers him anyway, “Uh, no. I’m a full-time student working full-time.” 

He hadn’t meant to ask really, but he was curious if anyone would be studying and working full-time. He nods mutely, letting the silence settle over them. 

Naruto shuffles, a hand going to rub the back of his neck. “Anything else?” 

Sasuke considers everything he’s been told, the job was actually beginning to appeal to him. He knew he could get those bonuses every month, and having a flexible staff to shuffle around shifts with seems a lot better than his eight hour night shift at the campus library. 

“Can I give you an answer tomorrow?” he asks instead. 

Naruto beams at him, “Sure! If you decide to apply bring your CV, bank info, and ID and you’ll be set.” 

Sasuke’s eyebrow twitches at the overt friendliness but gives a curt nod and a short ‘thank you’. Naruto gives him a mock salute as Sasuke heads out. 

Sasuke mulls the seductive offer over as he walks back to his car. He knew it wouldn’t be easy despite the way Naruto made it sound, mostly because Sasuke wasn’t exactly a ‘people-person’. 

Sasuke carries himself with the practiced ease of an aristocrat, he was raised as one and was surrounded by people of extremely high status throughout his childhood. His features though delicate took nothing away from the strength and confidence he exuded. Which tended to get people to gravitate naturally towards him, most hoping to get more out of him. They always wanted _something_ but most ended up with nothing. 

As a result, he’d developed a habit of being direct and often terse with most. Especially when they found out who he really was. Son of Uchiha Fugaku, one of Japan’s richest and most well-known business tycoons. So Sasuke kept to himself, refusing to interact with anyone he considered ‘below’ him. 

It wasn’t arrogance, it was self-preservation. 

Working in retail was going to be a big challenge, but he needed the money and the flexible hours if he wanted to keep his scholarship and apartment.   
Both he and Itachi were left to fend for themselves the moment they graduated without a single penny of support from their parents. His older brother was an honest-to-god, one-in-a-million genius and was already being groomed to take over his father’s company.  
Sasuke was expected to do the same and had to make a name for himself the same way his brother did. But more than anything, he wanted to make his family proud. So maybe he’ll suffer through this job for a while. Maybe it won’t be as bad as he expected it to be.

Decision made, Sasuke starts his car and speeds out of the parking lot. 

 

_____________________

 

The next Monday morning, Sasuke’s standing outside the shop waiting for Naruto to meet him fifteen minutes before opening. He checks his watch and scowls when he realizes Naruto’s two minutes late, Sasuke doesn’t appreciate tardiness. He takes a quick look around, irritation building with every passing second but simmers down when his eyes land on a rushing Naruto. The guy stops a couple of feet away from Sasuke with flushed cheeks, his breath coming out in soft pants. 

Sasuke opens his mouth to tell him he was late but Naruto cuts him off when he thrusts a coffee cup to him. 

“You look like you take your coffee black.” he grins. 

Sasuke stares suspiciously at the cup and notices Naruto’s smile faltering. “It ain’t gonna bite y’know?” 

At that Sasuke scoffs but takes the cup from him. “You’re late.” 

Naruto gives him a semi-irritated glance, “Yeah, I was getting _that_ for you.” he jerks his head to indicate the cup, much to Sasuke’s annoyance. 

“I don’t remember asking you to.” 

Naruto bends down and whips the shop’s keys out as he unlocks the automatic sliding garage. He raises his eyes to stare up at Sasuke. 

“No...but,” he pauses, “It’s called being friendly. The words you’re looking for are ‘thank you’ by the way.” he says patiently but Sasuke could hear the irritation behind it. 

He wasn’t going to thank him, people were never friendly to him for no reason. However, Naruto was his superior so he settles for a simple nod. Naruto eyes him warily but is thankfully distracted by the garage sliding open fully. 

Naruto throws a thumb over his shoulder. “Right, well. Gimme a couple of seconds I need to grab my phone and we can go grab a quick breakfast and I’ll give you a quick debrief on what’s expected of you.” 

“You forgot your phone at the shop?” Sasuke raises an eyebrow. His earlier irritation replaced with budding amusement. His manager might just be a complete idiot. 

Naruto’s cheeks were still flushed but they darken a bit more at Sasuke’s comment, “Shut up, I hadn’t noticed until it was too late to go back for it.” 

Sasuke snorts into his coffee as he takes a small sip waiting as Naruto unlocks the glass doors to grab his phone off the counter before walking back out and locking them again. 

Naruto walks them both towards the food court on the third floor, he tells Sasuke to sit anywhere while he fetches himself breakfast. 

“You want anything?” Naruto asks. Sasuke shakes his head, content with the black coffee Naruto got him. He takes a seat in one of the many available tables, watching as Naruto dashes to a nearby stall that sells simple pastries from what Sasuke could see. 

The Uchiha considers the man (who is now openly laughing with the girl working behind the register) Naruto was attractive, that was obvious to anyone. The blond didn’t seem to realize it though, from the way he carried himself with an easy sort of casualness. He did seem to take advantage of his natural charm, clearly retail works for this type of personality. 

Sasuke still couldn’t decide how much of it was genuine, but it didn’t feel like an act per se, more like he's playing to his strengths? If the irritated glance he’d given Sasuke earlier for the prickliness was anything to go by, Naruto didn’t seem like the type to have trouble being honest at all. 

Sasuke takes another sip, you never know though. For now, he isn't overbearing and that is just fine for Sasuke. The Uchiha did wonder if Naruto knew who Sasuke was though. 

Naruto is the one who handled his personal information and CV so it is very likely, but the blond has yet to act upon that knowledge. People didn’t usually take too long to make their admiration or agenda clear once they found out. 

“Got you a cookie!” Naruto’s voice cuts through his musings. He sits across from Sasuke, a fruity looking drink in his other hand. 

Sasuke looks at the chocolate chip cookie Naruto slides him in distaste. “I don’t like sweet things.” 

Naruto, who had been sipping his drink, chokes and sputters in shock. 

“What?!” he chokes. “How can you not—but! _Cookies_!” Naruto hisses. 

“They’re really not that grea-” 

Naruto snatches the cookie back, “Shh! You’ll hurt her feelings.” 

Sasuke gives him a flat look while Naruto coos to the cookie in his hand. Okay, maybe the guy _actually_ , most definitely is stupid. 

He elects to ignore the absurdity. “If you’re done comforting the cookie—” 

“Yeah, yeah. Eager to start are we?” Naruto sends him a wink as he pops a piece of the cookie into his mouth. “First tip? This job drags on _forever_. Trust me, no need to rush to start before you actually have to.” 

Sasuke gives him an unimpressed look, “I’m finding it hard to believe you’re the manager.” Naruto’s eyes widen in amusement, twinkling in their delight as he leans forward to close a bit of the distance between them and Sasuke has to physically stop himself from leaning back instinctively. He notes, however, that Naruto’s blue eyes were natural. 

“Oh you better believe it buddy,” Naruto says around another cookie piece. “I mean, it only took me two years to realize I gotta check my sanity by the front door when I open shop.” 

Sasuke finds his lips twisting a bit at that, seems like Itachi wasn’t exaggerating. Not that his brother ever exaggerates anything, but some of those stories were just…unbelievable. 

“I’m serious man!” Naruto continues as though he’d read Sasuke’s mind. “You get around three kinds of people, right?” he holds up three fingers for Sasuke to start counting them off. 

“One, Resting Bitch Face. These are probably the highlight of your day, they get in, get what they need and get out.” his manager lifts his index finger first. 

“Two, Bargain Hunters.”Naruto lifts his middle finger, “These people are an absolute nightmare. First, they ask for discounts or coupons, and if they don’t get one, they start trying to _haggle_.” Naruto hisses the last word in obvious irritation. “These fuckers don’t leave until you end up giving them free samples of whatever you have.” 

Naruto huffs a breath and lifts his ring finger “Finally, Batshit Crazy.” he wiggles his fingers in Sasuke’s face, who scowls at him to which Naruto offers an easy grin. 

“They’re a riot, honestly. You can usually tell the moment they enter the shop. Especially when they go straight for the testers and start—uhh, eating them.” 

“Wait, what?” Sasuke interrupts, his wariness showing. This job's starting to sound like a big mistake and he hadn’t even technically started yet. 

Naruto nods furiously, his blond bangs shaking with the motion. “Oh yeah. I’m not kidding. When I say taste, I mean literally licking products.” he mimes the motion of scooping something onto the back of his palm and licking it off. “You’d think it wouldn’t happen often but, my dude, it does.” He lets out a melodious laugh. 

Sasuke’s nose wrinkles in disgust, “Are you fucking serious?” 

“Mmhm. Don’t let that discourage you though.” he slaps an open palm onto Sasuke’s shoulder. “Other than those three, most are pleasant and easy to handle.” 

Sasuke raises an eyebrow and slowly shrugs Naruto’s hand off, ignoring the pursed lips Naruto gives him at the action. “Doesn’t really sound like it.” 

Naruto laughs, “You get used to it.” he licks his bottom lip after finishing the last of the cookie and Sasuke finds himself tracing the action. His eyes traveling back up to settle on the whiskers on the guy’s cheeks as Naruto leans back and checks his watch, they look more like birthmarks than scars, which is...intriguing. Sasuke finds himself wondering if they were raised or smooth against the skin. 

“We should probably head down to the shop. Come on, I’ll walk you through the rest.” Naruto says standing up. The sound of the chair scraping against the tiles as it’s pushed back breaks Sasuke out of his thoughts. 

Annoyed, Sasuke clicks his tongue and stands up abruptly, making Naruto blink at the suddenness of it. 

“You good?” He asks. 

“Fine.” Sasuke clips, clenched hands shoved deep into his pockets. He really needed to stop letting his thoughts wander. Sasuke misses the confused look Naruto sends him as they start walking back to the shop in silence. 

________________________

 

Sasuke was assigned the skin-care section and the aromatherapy section of the shop. Naruto had joked about giving him the make-up section to which Sasuke had given him the dirtiest look he could muster, but the blond only laughed and told him a different blond was in charge of that section already anyway. Naruto had then given him instructions about cleaning and maintaining his section, then handed him a manual of sorts that had an index of all their products and product information, he was supposed to memorize the gist as well as the prices for each product, which wasn’t all that hard for Sasuke given his eidetic memory. 

By noon, he’d memorized the entire manual. Including everyone else’s products. 

“Whoa man! That’s so cool.” Naruto exclaims when Sasuke tells him he’s already done memorizing. 

“So wait, if I test you on it-- are you, like, gonna regurgitate what’s in here verbatim?” Naruto points at the manual in Sasuke’s lap. 

Sasuke shrugs, “Pretty much.” 

“Alright let’s do it!” 

Sasuke raises both eyebrows a fraction, the idiot couldn’t be serious, could he? 

“Don’t you have a job to do?” Sasuke asks, arms crossed. 

Naruto waves him off, “Dude, you see anybody?” he waves an arm around the admittedly very empty shop. “Lighten up!” Naruto snatches the manual from Sasuke’s lap, his fingers brushing against the top of Sasuke’s thighs with the action. Sasuke glares but Naruto doesn’t seem to notice, or pretends not to. 

“No cheating.” he teases and Sasuke rolls his eyes. He was used to this type of reaction and usually, Sasuke wouldn’t give them the time of day, but somehow— he chances a glance at Naruto and is annoyed at himself when he finds he doesn’t mind the clear admiration shining in those blue eyes and the lips bitten in barely contained excitement. 

_What the fuck is wrong with me?_

“Item number three-four-seven?” Naruto chirps once he’s flipped the manual to a random page. 

Sasuke rolls his eyes. “Wrinkle reducing day cream, SPF thirty. Thirty-three hundred yen.” he pauses, “Do you want the specific ingredients?” he asks and smirks when Naruto’s jaw drops the moment he double-checks Sasuke’s answer. 

Naruto stutters unintelligible words before he nearly blinds Sasuke with his frantic arm waving, “This is amazing! Holy—so wait, are you like a genius or something?” 

Sasuke can feel a warmth spreading across his cheeks at the blatant excitement, it’s not that he wasn’t used to it. It’s just—Naruto’s reaction seems so much more sincere. So much _more_.

He realizes though that Naruto asked him a question most who knew him knew the answer to and frowns. 

“Hey! What’s your IQ?” Naruto continues, not even pausing for Sasuke to answer his previous question. 

“Last I checked...one-sixty-five.” Sasuke answers slowly, still suspicious. 

“Whoa, dude.” Naruto breathes in awe. “What the fuck are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be working for, I dunno, NASA or something?” 

Sasuke scoffs at that. “I’m an international business and marketing major.” 

Blue eyes widen as a smile spreads slowly, “Marketing? Sooo I hit the jackpot by hiring you?” 

Sasuke smirks “You could say that.” his expression then changes to that of confusion. “Wait, you hired me?” 

Naruto shakes his head, “Not technically. I just put in a good word for you with the regional manager.” 

Sasuke’s eyes narrow. “Why?” 

Naruto gives him a weird look, smile slipping a little. “Um. I don’t really know. I just kinda follow my gut feeling on these things.” 

“Your gut told you to hire me?” Sasuke deadpans. Disbelieving. 

“Hell yeah. Told me you’d definitely be an interesting addition to the team.” Naruto flicks Sasuke’s nose making him wrinkle it and swat the offending hand away while Naruto laughs at his expression. 

“So what do you plan to do with your degree? Degrees?” Naruto tilts his head, his voice pitch raising with his second question. 

“Work in the family business.” then he adds, “Why?” 

Naruto rolls his eyes but doesn’t respond to the question. “What’s the family business?” 

This time, Sasuke openly glares. No longer trying to hide his growing contempt at the incessant questions. Questions that, for the most part, Naruto would know the answers to since he handled passing on his personal information with, apparently, glowing recommendations. 

Instead of answering, Sasuke opts to counter Naruto’s question with his own as he crosses his arms. “What are you playing at?” 

Naruto’s confusion at the sudden change in atmosphere is apparent by the look on his face. Mainly, his mouth forming a small ‘O’ and his brows furrowing, like he just had a particularly plush rug pulled out from under him. Sasuke realizes that the expression is one of budding defensiveness. He smirks, feeling an odd sense of accomplishment for throwing Naruto off with his question. 

But instead of seeing a stuttering mess of a moron like he expects, Sasuke finds Naruto’s eyes narrowing, his lips thinning and his jaw clicking shut, the grinding of teeth audible to the Uchiha’s ears. 

And then Naruto’s leaning back into Sasuke's space with a hiss of, “What is that supposed to mean?” 

For a moment, Sasuke feels a sense of whiplash. He was unusually good at reading people, uncovering their intentions within a few hours, and predicting their behavior. Skills he needed to develop if he were to survive in the business world. Skills his father had instilled in both he and his brother from a young age. Training them to observe people at galas, recorded meetings, events, and soirees. 

So when Naruto decides to suddenly lean back fully from behind the counter, take a few steps away from Sasuke and slam the manual that had been in his hands moments ago onto the counter. He then turns swiftly in the opposite direction from Sasuke to disappear into the stock room in the back, blatantly ignoring Sasuke and the abrupt end to their conversation--Sasuke very much ends up feeling confused; there was no way he was wrong about Naruto’s intentions, he was being obtrusive and not at all subtle with his questions. That was the type of behavior Sasuke had been on the receiving end of on numerous occasions.

When a rather loud mutter of ‘jerk‘ reaches Sasuke’s ears from the stock room, Sasuke feels his cheeks growing hot and he decides it’s only because he was beyond infuriated and not even remotely embarrassed. 

He’s got nothing to be embarrassed about after all. Nope. He’s not wrong, Naruto is being overdramatic because he’d been caught redhanded trying to cozy up to a well-connected individual. Just like everyone else Sasuke’s ever had the displeasure of meeting. 

When ten minutes pass and Naruto finally reemerges, they both elect to ignore each other for the rest of their shifts. 

_________________

 

The rest of the day drags on and Naruto continues to ignore Sasuke, save for a few head jerks and directions on how to handle a customer and operating the register. It’s awkward. The tension in Naruto’s jaw and shoulders is clear to Sasuke but he never bothers apologizing, Naruto is just being immature. When it nears five P.M., the end of both their day shifts, Sasuke can’t believe what a shitty first day at work it’s been. He never expected to have fun, but working in a tense atmosphere had not been on his agenda for the day. However, he’s mostly glad it’s almost over anyway even if he still has night classes to go to. 

He tries not to yawn as he counts down the minutes till he can leave when two girls walk into the shop. One a platinum blonde, the other a pink haired girl. 

Sasuke’s lip curls in distaste, who’d have thought such outdated hair colors were still in style? 

The girls were giggling and talking loudly when they walked in but froze in their tracks when they notice Sasuke behind the register, and before he could really do anything. The platinum blond lets out a delighted squeal and rushes to his side. 

“Oh my god! You must be the new guy Naruto told us about!” she gushes, her voice going a pitch or three louder than necessary. 

Sasuke crosses his arms, he knows girls like her tend to be touchy and he’d rather not have her clinging to his arms. 

“I am. Who’re you?” 

She smiles at him, all teeth and painted rosy lips. “I’m Yamanaka Ino! This is Haruno Sakura, we both work here.” she announces cheerfully, almost bouncing in her excitement. 

Sasuke lets his eyes travel to the pink haired girl who offers him a sheepish smile and a small wave of her hand. 

Sasuke nods once in acknowledgment. “Sasuke.” he refrains from giving his last name knowing that most girls his age know of him and -sometimes- stalk him and his brother both virtually and in reality. 

He bites back a groan when he sees Ino’s pupils dilate in enlightened discovery, like a cat zeroing in on its prey. 

“Uchiha...Sasuke?” she asks in what Sasuke assumes was supposed to be a sultry voice. Even Sakura’s eyes widen in recognition and Sasuke counts backward from twenty when Ino exclaims she knew he looked familiar. 

“Why are you here?” he deflects instead of answering and congratulates himself when Ino seems to take the bait as she simply grins before she leans over the counter, baring her cleavage at him. 

_You’re reallllly barking up the wrong tree here..._ he thinks with an amused downturned smirk. 

Sakura recovers faster though and responds just as Ino opens her mouth. “It’s our shift. Naruto told us the new guy couldn’t work nights on Mondays and Wednesdays...” 

“Where _is_ Sunshine?” Ino broke in. 

Sasuke raises an eyebrow at the nickname but jerks a thumb behind him at the stock room and Ino thanks him with a wink, “Don’t leave just yet, sugar. I’ll be right back.” she says as she moves behind him to enter the stock room, leaving him alone with Sakura who, in Sasuke’s opinion, seems to be a little less overbearing than that Ino chick. 

He could hear Ino squealing and Naruto laughing behind the closed door and finds himself scowling. Sakura apparently notices because she asks if he’s alright. 

“I know Ino can come on a little strong but she’s a good person!” she hurriedly adds. 

Sasuke’s scowl fades into a blank expression and he shrugs. “I don’t care to form an opinion of her.” 

That makes Sakura’s cheeks flare and Sasuke doesn’t think he’s seen anyone blush so fast before.She stutters a few times, but Sasuke is already tuning her out, uninterested. He thinks she’ll probably bend over backwards trying to gather some courage into continuing a pointless conversation. 

He’s browsing through his phone when Sakura clears her throat and he looks up to find her glaring at him with a hand on her hip. 

“Okay just because you’re hot and rich doesn’t mean you get to be a jerk.” 

Sasuke’s phone actually slips a little from his hand. What the hell is it with people today? Was he getting rusty? He really needed to brush up on his body-language skills. Clearly, he wasn’t picking up the right signals. 

Sakura huffs when he doesn’t respond then rolls her eyes. “Well thanks for destroying the image I had of you.” she pauses when he glares at her, he really couldn’t give a flying fuck what her delusions of him consisted of. 

Sakura though, giggles behind a fist, “Guess that means I can treat you like any other asshole.” she winks, much in the same way Ino had earlier. 

Just then, Naruto and Ino walk out of the stock room, with Ino carrying a few bottles of shower gel in her arms and Naruto a few gift boxes in his. 

Ino settles them next to the register and immediately wraps an arm around Sasuke’s bicep. Sasuke closes his eyes and uses his other hand to rub his forehead. 

“Good job snagging this one. He’s gorgeous!” she squeezes his bicep and makes an impressed noise. 

“Yeah, I knew he’d bring in more customers,” Naruto admits with a grin and Sasuke tries not to fixate too much on the fact that Naruto just agreed to Ino’s statement. 

It doesn’t matter. It’s not new. Most people, men and women alike, made similar comments and Sasuke never cared about such perceptions. 

So why won’t his heart stop beating so damn fast? 

“Oh I’m sure once people know they’ll be lining up outside our shop.” Ino agrees. Naruto rolls his eyes but there was a small smile on his face, he didn’t so much as look at Sasuke though. Instead, Naruto turns to greet Sakura by dragging her into a one-armed hug, while Sakura’s arms come up to cling to the back of his shirt with a soft laugh. 

“Missed you too, Naruto.” Sakura breathes. 

Sasuke watches in silence as Naruto backs away with a grin, but his arm moves to instead lay causally across her shoulder and Sakura’s hand comes up to lace easily with Naruto’s draped fingers.  
Sasuke couldn’t say why the action bothered him so much, but it did.

He thinks that’s why he blurts, “You guys together?” and no one is more surprised than him. 

Both Sakura and Naruto’s eyes widen but they immediately burst into laughter the moment they look at each other, making Sasuke frown yet again—was he missing something? 

Ino, who was still clinging to his bicep, answers his question with a dismissive wave. 

“They’re childhood friends.” 

“So why are they laughing?” Naruto’s practically wiping tears from his eyes. 

Ino snorts and offers him a subdued smile, “Because that’s a question literally everyone asks.” 

Sasuke doesn’t see why that would warrant laughter so he clicks his tongue but says nothing with Ino still clinging to him and giggling. He decides to ignore all of them. 

“Naruto,” Sasuke says, cutting off the blond’s animated conversation with Sakura. Blue eyes turn to him with a questioning eyebrow. Sasuke tries not to let that irritate him. Everything’s been so irritating today. 

“I’m leaving. My shift’s over.” he tells him. 

Naruto snaps his fingers, his gaze losing its edge. “Oh right! Yeah, you can go. Your personalized ID code hasn’t been processed yet. You should get it in a couple of days.” 

Sasuke gives him a confused look. What the fuck was a personalized ID code? 

Sakura picks up on his confusion and answers his unvoiced question. “It’s how you punch in and out. You get your own number and you input it into the system at the start and end of every shift.” she points at the computer for emphasis. 

Sasuke nods in silence. He walks into the stock room to pick up his messenger bag and walks out in record time. All three are standing close together when he passes them and the two girls offer him friendly goodbyes. Sasuke lifts a hand in a small wave as his eyes land on Naruto, who is staring at him silently, expression blank. Sasuke suppresses a growl and turns swiftly on his heels to leave, ignoring Ino’s yell of “Your next shift is with me!”. 

He didn’t have time to care what the idiot’s problem was. He had classes to get to. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-edited because fuck Uni.

It’s been two weeks since he first started working here and Sasuke still finds himself annoyed with various customers, but mostly, with Naruto. 

The moron still refuses to talk to him beyond what was strictly necessary and Sasuke was getting really tired of the overt formality, which is ironic considering he’d been annoyed with the excessive friendliness previously. 

He knew, he knew he was being childish. He knew it’s what he generally prefers and normally this situation would be ideal for the youngest Uchiha. 

But...seeing how Naruto is with everyone else _but_ Sasuke grated on his last nerve. Naruto was friendly to random strangers, children, little old ladies looking for lavender scented oils, hell he was even friendly to the middle-school punks that roam the mall every couple of days causing trouble. He gave everyone the time of day and dedicated extreme attention to everyone...everyone that _wasn’t_ Sasuke. If it weren’t such a pathetic thought to have, Sasuke would consider it a blessing if Naruto decided to speak to him on any particular day. But Sasuke wasn’t— pathetic that is. 

He watches as Naruto flirts openly with a couple of college girls as he recommends the new seasonal line. His dark eyes narrowing when Naruto touches the girl’s wrist and lifts her hand to gently apply a bit of the new body butter to her open palm, spreading the cream and massaging it into her skin. 

“You have really soft skin.” He tells her with a small smile and focused blue eyes, the intensity of which makes the girl blush predictably and stutter out a thank you. 

Sasuke resists the urge to scoff. Naruto was definitely good at this. He can hear the idiot tell the girl she should make sure to keep taking care of her skin and she actually agrees to take not one, but _two_ body-butters and a fucking hand and nail lotion.

_Why doesn’t she just fucking use the two body-butters?_ Sasuke thinks, exasperated. 

People were really fucking stupid sometimes, but Naruto clearly knew how to take advantage of them. He told her she had beautiful long nails and that _“The almond hand and nail lotion will take good care of them.”_ the girl drank the words like honeyed wine, practically bathing in the praise. 

Naruto ends up cashing a bill of over fifteen thousand yen just from her. 

Sasuke tries to smirk because a part of him is impressed, but what comes out is a downturn of displeasure. 

“You’re good at this.” he finds himself stating. Naruto startles as if he’s forgotten Sasuke was standing by the register but then finally looks Sasuke in the eyes and Sasuke is suddenly struck by how little Naruto’s been doing that. 

“I should hope so. I’ve been working here for three years.” 

Sasuke doesn’t know what to say to that so he says nothing. Naruto is still looking at him with a raised blond eyebrow, almost expectant, or was it inviting? 

He guesses he should probably say something, this is the first conversation he’s had with Naruto since his first day at work and he doesn’t know why that detail makes its way to the forefront of his thoughts, but it only serves to anger him. So he scowls at Naruto whose blue eyes take on a more frigid stare of their own before he rolls them and moves out from behind the register muttering something about getting laid. 

Sasuke has a sneaking suspicion that Naruto was probably referring to Sasuke. 

With a typical scowl, the youngest Uchiha resigns himself to another afternoon of observing Naruto and trying not to murder the blond manager and everyone else in the vicinity. 

He resists the urge to sigh as he walks towards a confused looking teenage girl and helps her pick out a gift for a friend. Sasuke takes the pre-wrapped gift box and rings it up for her and the girl giggles out a ‘thank you’ then hands him the money. She lets her hand linger on Sasuke’s as she thanks him again and Sasuke shudders, teenage girls were becoming much bolder these days. He was at least five years older than her but it didn’t seem to matter to the girl despite it being very much illegal to pursue a relationship with him. 

He catches Naruto’s snort beside him and shoots him a dirty look. Naruto shrugs but the smirk doesn’t leave his face until he sees Sakura approaching the shop. 

His entire demeanor shifts upon greeting her, the same way it shifts every time he handles anyone other than Sasuke. Where there’s open affection for everyone, there’s only barely restrained contempt for Sasuke. And for what? For exposing Naruto’s true intentions towards him? 

Sasuke grits his teeth and ignores his annoyance. Naruto is an immature idiot. That’s all. 

“You ready to go?” Sakura asks. Naruto starts to say yes when his blue eyes slide to someone standing behind Sakura and he gently pushes Sakura aside to reach for the guy with the ridiculously long brown hair standing behind her. 

Sasuke’s eyebrow twitches at seeing Naruto embrace the guy and shout excitedly at him, the guy’s hands clutching Naruto’s hips with a soft smile on his lips. 

Who the _fuck_ was this guy? 

“Neji! Holy shit man I haven’t seen you in forever!” Naruto punches Neji’s arm playfully making the other instinctively step back. Sasuke doesn’t want to know why he’s immediately glad at the forced space. 

It doesn’t last long because Neji steps right back into Naruto’s bubble and Naruto doesn’t seem to mind _one bit._ Hell, his hand slides slowly to wrap around this Neji’s as he tugs him to greet Sakura. 

Sasuke doesn’t care that they all clearly know each other and that he’s pretty much the fourth wheel here. He just wants the guy to _go._ Something about the way he is…handling Naruto doesn’t sit well with Sasuke. 

He clears his throat, knowing that what he’s about to say is an indicator of his irritation but he couldn’t care less. “Shouldn’t we get back to work, Naruto?” 

Naruto, who’d been chatting with his friend, tilts his head in his direction and gives him a forced smile. “I can do pretty much what I fucking want, Sasuke. My shift’s over.” 

Sasuke notes Neji’s raised eyebrow and Sakura’s twinkling eyes hiding her amusement, though he has no idea what exactly is so amusing to her. 

She steps to stand beside Sasuke and places a placating hand on his forearm and Sasuke resists the urge to wrench it free. 

“Sasuke?” Neji suddenly asks. “Uchiha Sasuke?” his pale eyes narrow as he takes a few steps closer to Sasuke who crosses his arms, challenging. Sasuke’s own eyes though were fixed on Naruto who was watching the exchange with pursed lips and interested eyes. 

“You know him?” Naruto questions. 

Neji is silent for a moment before he nods, slow and calculated. “My family knows his family,” he explains. 

At that, Sasuke’s turns to consider Neji who extends a hand towards him, “Hyuuga Neji.” 

If Sasuke is surprised at seeing a Hyuuga here of all places (one that’s familiar with _Naruto_ of all people) he’s careful not to show it, but he does reach out to shake Neji’s hand. Their families were life-long partners dating back four generations after all. 

“What are you like cousins or something?” Naruto’s nose wrinkles in his confusion and Sasuke does _not_ think it’s cute. 

Neji chuckles. “Or something...” 

They’re all silent for a moment before Sakura decides to break it with a clap. 

“Well, now that that’s out of the way. We should be getting back to work!” 

Sasuke is thankful that she seems to have picked up on his discomfort while Naruto and Neji nod in unison. Naruto sends her a grin and goes to gather his things to leave for the day. 

All three speak cheerfully while Sasuke ignores all of them until Naruto’s at the door, fingers laced with Neji’s as he tugs him out, sending Sakura a quick goodbye. He ignores Sasuke completely, probably because the Uchiha couldn’t stop glaring at their clasped hands. 

Once they both disappear, he lets out a weary sigh, lifting a hand to rub at his temples. 

He has no idea why this exchange had him on edge or why it bothered him so much, all he knows is that Naruto and everything associated with Naruto is more trouble than its worth. 

“Neji’s Naruto’s ex by the way.” 

Sasuke chokes. Of all the things Sakura could’ve talked about, he did _not_ expect Sakura to tell him this. 

“What?” he says, his surprise was clear to her he’s sure because she gives him an amused smile. “They broke up, but they’re still really close friends.” 

“ _What?_ ”he repeats. 

Sakura leans her elbows on the counter across from him, chin resting on a closed fist. 

“Naruto and Neji went out. Dated. You know when two people like each other they—” 

“Don’t patronize me. I know what dating is.” he interrupts her, scowling as she rolls her eyes. He suddenly dearly misses the Sakura who’d been infatuated with him at first sight—before his shitty personality went and ruined it ‘for her’. 

“So what’s confusing you?” She casually checks her nails and Sasuke has a feeling she knows the answer already but is purposely being obtuse about it. 

“I thought Naruto was—” 

“Straight? Yeah, as a rainbow.” she laughs at the ridiculous expression that was undoubtedly on his face and pats his arm twice before she walks away from him. 

“Couldn’t you tell?” she continues when she’s a safe distance away. 

Sasuke frowns, obviously he couldn’t. “What do you mean?” 

She shrugs as she rearranges a few items on the shelf, “I thought you guys could…you know, pick up on it or something— couldn’t you just _tell_?” 

Sasuke admits, he has to take a minute to compute the implication behind that sentence and he feels his face flush in embarrassment. 

“Excuse me?” his voice had taken a dangerous edge, a warning, but Sakura didn’t seem to care in the slightest. 

“Aren’t you gay?” 

She was smirking at him. She _knew_ he was and was enjoying the torment. He had no idea how she knew but the expression on her face didn’t show a hint of doubt. 

“I don’t think that’s any of your fucking _business_.” he hisses at her, but it seems she got what she wanted out of the conversation because she nods and raises placating hands to wave slowly. 

“You’re right. Sorry I asked!” she gives him a sincere smile before she turns her back to him and continues re-stocking and arranging the shelves. 

Sasuke tries not to throw the ceramic candle holder at the back of her head. Girls were fucking _scary_ and annoying. 

___________________

 

After that, Sasuke avoids talking to Sakura for a while, not that it discourages _her_ from approaching him anyway, but he finds he doesn’t mind her company, as long as she isn’t harassing him. His shifts with her and Ino pass the time at least, unlike his shifts with Naruto. 

With Naruto, the days feel like a monotonous drag to Sasuke, time passes in boring silence mostly and Sasuke, for lack of nothing better to do, starts observing Naruto more and more every day. 

He finds himself quietly admiring Naruto at work, not that he’ll ever admit that to the guy himself. He’s just...intriguing. 

Naruto is definitely good at his job, he knew how to use his assets to his advantage and was extremely friendly to boot. He knew how to talk old ladies into buying useless wooden gadgets for their backs, and convinces them of buying a few aromatic candles. He knew how to handle the rare male customers that wandered in at times too. Most came in looking for something for their girlfriends, but Naruto would somehow make them buy something for themselves too even though they didn’t carry many items specifically made for ‘men’.

The guy was also always somehow ready for any children that came in with any families and would always whip out a lollipop out of fucking _nowhere_ to give to a particularly irritable child. Like Sasuke’s family physician used to do when Sasuke was particularly fussy as a child. 

All in all, there wasn’t a customer that came in that Naruto couldn’t somehow cheer up and rope into buying at least one item. 

Sasuke thinks it’s because Naruto was never strictly professional with the customers. He saw how Naruto hugged old ladies he’d met ten minutes prior in goodbye, how he’d flirt easily with any college girls, and even carry toddlers while their parent shopped. He was really good at making people feel like they’d known him for a while and everyone gravitated naturally towards his sunny disposition. Sasuke was having a hard time believing Naruto didn’t know _any_ of them, save the odd regular consumers. 

Sasuke wasn’t bad himself. He wasn’t admiring Naruto’s skills because he found his own to be lacking. On the contrary, Sasuke was doing pretty well for having worked a little over two weeks. 

Sasuke however, didn’t have to try that hard. Or at all. While Naruto seemed to make it _look_ effortless— and perhaps it was for him— but Sasuke was barely given a chance to make an effort at all.

For Sasuke, girls were the easiest sell. He barely had to talk to them before they were already making their way to the register to buy any and all his recommendations. Some would think they were being subtle by asking for his opinion on almost every product in the store, hoping that enough interaction would get Sasuke to ask them out. Others were much bolder in that they outright asked _him_ out. The older women found him attractive, and the seniors thought he needed to stop _“Frowning all the time, or your face’ll get stuck like that, young man.”_ , but they always bought something from him anyway even if he wasn’t the friendliest. It’s why Naruto couldn’t really hold it against him; if Sasuke was making sales, who cared if he didn’t have a welcoming smile to greet customers with? 

Sasuke’s sales mostly resulted out of people’s shallow interest in him _personally_. 

On the other hand, Naruto wasn’t ugly, far from it. He was attractive, but it definitely wasn’t what got people to stay and chat for more than five minutes at a time. It wasn’t those dimples in his cheeks or the straight white teeth. It wasn’t those blue eyes that twinkled with hidden mischief or the shock of unruly blond hair. 

No, people definitely saw Naruto’s beauty but it wasn’t what made them stay. They stayed because Naruto was like Thanksgiving or Christmas. They stayed because he felt like family, like _home_.

It was just Naruto. It was his rich laugh and his sincerity. His amusing anecdotes and his witty bantering, his warm hugs, and his cheerful _“come again”_ s, his endless chattering, and his loud _everything_ that charmed people into buying things from him, he’s welcoming and inviting and it drew others to him. 

And while Sasuke believed most of these products were useless, he noticed that Naruto is actually the one who chooses what his customers should buy, unless a customer is incessant and specific about what they wanted, they usually trusted his judgement and Sasuke knows with irritating knowledge that Naruto tends to sell people things he thinks they’ll use and benefit from. 

Sasuke hates himself for noticing these things. He hates that he’s spent so much time studying Naruto’s behavior and his performance the past week. He hates it because it tells him he was _wrong_ about Naruto. He hates it because it shows him that Naruto really doesn’t give a flying shit-bucket who Uchiha Sasuke really is. 

He treats everyone the same way, and Sasuke’s hands twitch with the need to rectify this disaster somehow. 

He somehow doesn’t want to be the only person in Naruto’s life he’s unfriendly towards. Though he’s still annoyed he got sucked into the Naruto-bubble with the rest of the plebes anyway. 

Still, it doesn’t mean he’s going to do anything about it and even if he did...he had no idea how to go about it. 

He thinks maybe he should ask Sakura or Ino but then decides against it. He really didn’t need to invite more of their already invasive curiosity into his life. 

Sasuke wasn’t a talkative person, he knew how to carry a conversation when each party was looking to benefit from the other. Small-talk, however, was uncharted territory. 

Plus, he’s shit at apologizing and sometimes he tends to say things he doesn’t actually intend to say.

Sasuke whips his phone to check the time on the screen then clicks his tongue as he rolls his neck. 

_Only three more billion hours to go._

 

_______________________

 

It was a Sunday morning which meant the mall would be packed with families shortly, which meant today’s shift, though shorter, would be hectic, which in turn meant that all four of them were taking the same full shift from morning till closing time. Sasuke hated Sundays, they were that last day of reprieve before everyone had to return to their weekly grind, now he couldn’t even have that because no one was allowed to take Sundays off. He was really regretting taking this job. 

He hands a bag full of facial treatments that supposedly help restore youth to a middle-aged woman with entirely too much botox injected into her face. She gives him a sultry smile, fake eyelashes batting heavily against her cheeks as she slips him her number before walking away with a swing in her rather curvy hips. 

That was the fourth time already and it wasn’t even noon. Ino skips and stands beside him, snatching the card out of his hands with ease. 

She lets out a bark of laughter, “This one says she can ‘show a young stud like you a good time’!” Ino snorts unflatteringly, the card snatched from her hand by Sakura this time whose eyes widen a second before she dissolves into a fit of laughter herself. Both girls hanging off each other as they fail to control their hysterics.  
“Who even writes shit on their cards nowadays anyway?” she asks in between wheezes. “Hey, did you see her write this down or are they all just ready for random ‘studs’ she runs into?”

Sasuke gives them both a half-hearted glare, too tired to care at the moment. 

“It’s not funny.” he ignores her question. 

“It is when you’re obviously gay!” Ino sniggers behind her hand. 

Oh yeah, they both apparently knew instantly that he didn’t exactly bat for the home team and found it endlessly amusing that everyone that came onto him either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Even Naruto found it hilarious, though he actively tried to hide his amusement behind a poor mask of indifference, his eyes always gave him away. They’d glitter with mirth whenever he wanted to laugh. Sasuke didn’t know why he was still trying hard to ignore him, it’s been a month already but it was clear that if anyone knew how to hold onto a ridiculous grudge it would be Naruto. 

His stubbornness rivaled Sasuke’s. 

Sasuke had found a way around it though, he’d taken to irritating Naruto on a daily basis. Getting a rise out of him and arguing was the closest thing he could come to a conversation with him. 

It wasn’t entirely unpleasant. Which, granted, was a little bit twisted. He didn’t care though, he revelled in the fiery reactions he’d get out of the blond and briefly wondered why he hadn’t been fired yet or at least taken to some disciplinary hearing about appropriate work-place relations. 

He’d asked Sakura once, and apparently, Naruto hates tattling. 

_“I think a part of him also enjoys arguing with you.”_ she’d added later. 

Sasuke liked the sound of that. He didn’t care he’s pretty much resorting to school-yard behavior, at this point. He’ll take what he can get, and if all he gets is Naruto’s passionate anger and burning intensity, then he’s more than satisfied.

As long as he holds the blond’s attention, he’ll consider it a win. 

He chances a look at Naruto who is standing on a little step-stool to clean the higher glass shelves, it was still a little early so he can afford to clean a few shelves before people really started pouring in. Sakura and Ino were standing behind the register cackling and pointing at something on their phones so Sasuke decides to move towards Naruto, lifting the two baskets on the counter next to him that were full of products which were previously on the shelf Naruto is currently cleaning. 

“Sakura can you hand me the—” Naruto cuts off when he notices Sasuke standing next to him with the baskets he was about to ask for. Sasuke rolls his eyes when Naruto gives him a perturbed glare. 

Behind him, the girls quiet down a bit with their eyes watching them intently. Sasuke ignores them and starts handing Naruto products two at a time. He watches him stack everything neatly with one-inch margins left on all sides of the shelf like it was a damn university term-paper. Naruto had told him on the first day that whenever _secrete corporate “customers”_ walk in, they evaluate everything strictly and diligently. If it was found to be _lacking_ for whatever reason, their pay would be docked. Supposedly, it’s some sort of incentive for them to keep the place pristine at all times. 

Sasuke must’ve zoned out because the next thing he knows, Naruto’s hand is knocking into his own, causing him to drop the product only for it to land on a bottom shelf and roll around knocking most of the items out of order. 

After a pregnant pause, Naruto lets out a long groan, hand lifting to slide down his face and stretching his cheeks comically. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Uchiha? Pay attention!” he hisses. 

Sasuke instantly bristles at the admonition. “It’s not my fault you’re a spastic idiot!” 

“Me?! You’re the one who was practically trying to feed me the damn thing!” Naruto retorts. 

“As if I’d ever get close enough to you to do that.” Sasuke bites, head tilted upwards to glare at the blond towering above him from his perch on the stool. 

Naruto steps down, his feet making unnecessary noise in the process as he reaches the ground and kicks the stool behind him. Blue eyes wild as he steps into Sasuke’s space, nose practically touching his own. 

“What you think you’re too good to be in my presence?” 

Sasuke smirks, “Compared to you? Everyone’s too good.” 

Sasuke doesn’t get to register the flash of hurt in Naruto’s eyes for long because Naruto shoves him. “What the fuck is your problem, Uchiha?!”

He doesn’t know. He really doesn’t understand why making Naruto so angry is downright exhilarating. He knows he should stop before he says something way too stupid to take back. But he doesn’t. 

He steps back into Naruto’s space, crowding him. “You.” Sasuke hisses. “You’re my problem. People like _you_ are my problem. People that latch onto anyone they think they can suck dry. Charm them into thinking they’re worth more than the dirt beneath their feet because they can’t stand the fact that they mean _nothing_ to _everyone._ ” He finishes cruelly. 

And he regrets it. He regrets it the moment it leaves his lips because he knows it’s not _true_. 

A few feet next to him he could hear the girls gasp, Sakura hissing his name like poison while Ino holds her back, tells her something about ‘staying out of it’ and ‘letting them work it out’. 

_Work what out? Obviously, nothing’s been working out._

Naruto, who’d been stunned into painful silence, finally moves to snap his hand around Sasuke’s wrist with a growl and lead him into the stock room. The moment they’re both inside, he whips around to throw one hell of a punch, making Sasuke stumble and crash against metal racks from its sheer force as the products are knocked out of their place and some of them roll onto the ground. 

_I deserved that,_ Sasuke thinks miserably but says nothing. Naruto’s eyes are like a trapped storm, his fists are clenched and trembling at his sides. “You—you just crossed the fucking line, Uchiha.” he’s never heard Naruto’s voice take that tone, a deadly edge to it with a tinge of raw _hurt_. Sasuke had genuinely hurt him. 

He bends to grab Sasuke’s collar and drags him in close only to shove him back again in disgust. 

“You know what you miserable bastard? You’re not even fucking worth the trouble.” Naruto says, lips curled. 

Sasuke knew he needed to do something, he needed to salvage this thing. It’s not even about possibly losing this job, that was the last thing on Sasuke’s mind. No, Naruto is walking away and Sasuke hadn’t realized just what it is he’s destroying until that moment when Naruto gave him his back. 

So the next thing that comes out of his mouth is a blurt of, “I know.” 

It’s not the smartest thing to say, but it does stop Naruto in his tracks and causes him to whip back around to face him. His eyes like ice digging into Sasuke’s skin. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you? You acted like the biggest asshole on the planet since the day I met you and it’s been nothing but a tug of war with you since! One moment you’re smirking and challenging me to sell the most products, and the next you’re antagonizing me. I can’t fucking understand you! Tell me, what in the fuck is it exactly that you want, Uchiha?!” Naruto is shouting by the end, chest heaving. 

Sasuke is stunned into silence at the outburst, watching as Naruto takes deep breaths. His cheeks flushed and shoulders tense as he attempts to calm himself. His blue eyes dimming in his genuine anger and hurt and _that—_ more than anything—forces a reply out of Sasuke’s mouth. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Naruto’s eyebrows raise in surprise, his fists clenching and unclenching as though he doesn’t know whether to punch Sasuke again or not. 

Sasuke can’t blame him, he knows he’d been acting like a child when Naruto’s been nothing but honest from day one.

“...What?” Naruto finally breathes. 

“I’m sorry,” Sasuke repeats. Standing straight and taking a step towards Naruto, who tilts his head a fraction in confusion, eyebrows now furrowing. 

“Why—” 

“I don’t know.” Sasuke interrupts. Groaning and raising a hand to run it through his hair. “I don’t know why I treat you this way.” Sasuke turns his face away from Naruto, feeling an embarrassing flush creep on his cheeks. “I’m not—I don’t—ugh.” he cuts himself off, squeezing his eyes shut. 

Sasuke pauses for a few moments with Naruto patiently standing across from him. Confusion still marring his features. 

With an annoyed huff, Sasuke finally—reluctantly— admits, “I don’t really know how to be friends with someone.” 

He honestly expects Naruto to unload on him, because really? What the hell kind of excuse is that? It’s absolutely ridiculous and pathetic and he fully expects Naruto to make fun of him for it, or punch him again for being so _petulant_. He knows that if the situation were reversed, that’d be exactly what he would’ve done.  
Sasuke may be good at reading people, but only when those people were dishonest about their intentions. He has no idea how to deal with _simplicity,_ ironically finding people like Naruto, Sakura, and even Ino a lot more complicated. 

So when Naruto starts chuckling, shoulders shaking and eyes wide in disbelief, Sasuke really shouldn’t have been surprised when the chuckles turn into hysterical, unabashed, and loud laughter. 

The blond laughs and laughs, body curving and hands crossing over his stomach. The choking and snorting noises he makes echoing in the small stock room and filling the previously tense silence with a bizarrely uplifting aura. 

Sasuke finds it infectious as he too starts chuckling quietly. Naruto falls to the ground on his backside, his head thrown back and throat bared as he continues laughing. 

They continue like that until their laughter eventually dies out at the same time, turning instead into occasional snickers and Sasuke suddenly finds Naruto’s eyes considering him with an odd, exasperated fondness, the same way a mother would consider her child after he’d attempt to steal a cookie for the one-hundredth time. 

“You’re unbelievable, you know that?” Naruto tells him, grinning. 

In this moment, Sasuke realizes how much he’s craved that smile to be directed at him. So he turns his eyes away and offers Naruto a hand. 

“Yeah, I’ve been told,” he replies with a smirk. 

Naruto rolls his eyes but takes his hand. “Unbelievably stupid that is. You’re seriously telling me that was you trying to be friendly? How old are you?” he asks rhetorically, smile never leaving his lips. 

Sasuke hauls him up, a little too roughly and Naruto ends up standing chest to chest with him, their hands trapped between them and they both flush at their sudden closeness. 

They back away slowly, awkwardly, and clear their throats. 

“So um, yeah. Next time, how about you just say ‘good morning’.” Naruto smiles, a hand going to rub the back of his neck. Sasuke knows it’s a nervous habit of his. 

He shifts, “Yeah. Yeah alright.” 

With that, Naruto offers him one more easy grin before he wraps a friendly arm around his neck to drag him in for a quick noogie. His forearm brushing against Sasuke’s abused cheek who lets out a hiss of pain, over which Naruto immediately panics. 

“Oh shit! Oh man, I’m so sorry! I forgot—Oh god I _punched you_!” the blond waves his arms frantically, fussing over him and looking genuinely regretful. 

Sasuke is again, surprised. He’d clearly deserved that but here they are barely amicable not even ten minutes later and Naruto was panicking in genuine _concern_ and Sasuke’s just—amazed. 

“Oh dude, please don’t sue me! I’ll—shit I don’t know, I’ll treat you to lunch every day for a month! Just—fuck! I lost control okay? I’m sorry.” 

_Jesus, he looks like he’s about to burst into tears._

“I’m fine Naruto, I’m not going to sue you. Relax.” 

Naruto buries his face in his hands in relief, “Ugh, really?” he asks in a low voice. 

“Yeah and you don’t need to treat me to lunch either, I pretty much deserved it.” Sasuke shrugs. 

Naruto peeks at him from behind his fingers, lips pursed in an attempt to control a smile. 

“Yeah you kinda had it coming, huh?” he teases. 

Sasuke rolls his eyes and lifts a hand to gently massage his aching jaw. “Shut up.” his dark eyes check Naruto’s right hand and can see his knuckles already reddening, he’s going to bruise too. 

“You have a mean right hook.” Sasuke admires. 

Naruto grins proudly, “I kickbox!” 

Sasuke’s eyes widen a fraction, looks like he’s going to need to get used to being constantly surprised by this guy. 

“Recreationally?” 

Naruto shakes his head, “Well, I mean now yeah. I used to competitively for a while though.” he turns to start walking and Sasuke falls into step beside him easily. 

“What about you?” Naruto asks. 

“A mix of Krav Maga and Jui-Jitsu.” Sasuke answers. Naruto’s hand freezes over the doorknob before he twists around to look at him with wide eyes. 

“Whoa! Are you serious?!” 

Sasuke nods slowly, his entire family were trained rigorously from childhood. A traditional practice passed down generations of Uchihas. 

“That’s fucking insane! You gotta teach me some moves man!” Naruto waves an arm excitedly. He pauses and shoots Sasuke a small glare when he realizes something, “You could’ve easily evaded me then.” 

Sasuke really hadn’t expected Naruto to punch him at all, but he smirks instead and lets Naruto believe he hadn’t dodged on purpose. 

Naruto turns back to the door with a grumble and slides it open, and they both walk out only to be greeted with frantic looks from both Sakura and Ino and before he could even continue his conversation with Naruto, they both start firing rapid questions at them. 

“What the fuck happened?!” 

“Are you okay?!” 

“Why are guys so goddamned stupid?!” 

Naruto laughs and raises placating hands while dodging Sakura’s reaching arms. “Yeah, yeah! We’re fine now. Just a misunderstanding is all. In fact--” he steps back to wrap an arm around Sasuke’s shoulder and says, “We’re BFFs now!” 

Sasuke doesn’t even get to register the claim for long because Sakura and Ino lose their minds completely, torn between happy and frustrated with them both. 

“I can’t _believe_ you two! I thought you went in there to kill each other!” Ino hisses. 

Sakura nods, arms crossed. “How do guys even do this? How do you go from arguing to--this?” she waves a hand at them haphazardly, lips curled in disbelief. 

“Ugh I hate boys! I was worried over  _nothing_!” Ino wails dramatically. 

Naruto laughs while Sakura agrees with her statement. Both girls ranting about the mystery behind male relationships. 

Sasuke couldn’t blame them, he was feeling a little confused too, but mostly he was...satisfied. He looks down at Naruto who was still giggling with a casual arm still draped onto Sasuke’s shoulder and- Sasuke nudges him, Naruto turns questioning eyes onto him. 

“My family owns a dojo...you can come by if you’d like?” he tells him quietly and watches the way Naruto bites his lip to suppress a grin, the way those blond eyelashes frame thrilled eyes, and the way his dimples dip into his cheeks—

Naruto gives a loud whoop, “Hell yeah I would. I’m gonna kick your ass!” his arm sliding away to nudge Sasuke back with his shoulder. 

Then Naruto notices a wandering customer and gives Sasuke’s shoulder a squeeze before he skips to help her. Sasuke stares after him, feeling distinctly colder and warmer all at once. 

_Oh boy..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a bit of the stick up Sasuke's ass out. Yeah he's a little bitch. He has no idea how to deal with actually liking someone. I wanted to keep his thoughts vague and jumpy about his feelings since this is technically his first "crush" on someone in this universe. He doesn't know how to handle it, or what "it" even is. He's just a confused, entitled moron in this story so please bear with him LOL. I wanted to do something different (I usually make Sasuke realize it pretty fast, not this time though!)  
> Again, hope you enjoyed! Please leave comments and kudos so I can motivate myself to update next week <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-edited. I have exams already guys. Ugh.

Finals are coming. 

 

Finals are coming like the warnings of an impending storm threatening utter devastation—and for the first time in years, Sasuke couldn’t bring himself to care. 

Ever since he’d finally befriended Naruto almost two months ago, it was like everything else in his life clicked into place, or didn’t seem to matter all that much in comparison (He thinks it’s a little sad, what is he? Two?) 

It was weird in the sense that it was oddly freeing. Naruto was boundless energy and exciting ideas, he was like the tides of the sea that swept everything and drowned it in its wake—only, Sasuke felt at ease wrapped up in Naruto’s fast pace. He didn’t mind when Naruto showed up randomly at his apartment at odd hours to pester him into taking a break from studying and grab a bite to eat awful junk food at equally awful diners, or to play a game of beer pong, or arm-wrestle at ass o’clock in the morning. 

He didn’t mind when Naruto would walk in, literally uninvited and make himself at home by plugging his console to Sasuke’s television set and demand a rematch because ‘ _clearly, you cheated last time!’_. He certainly didn’t mind when Naruto’s random knick-knacks started coloring Sasuke’s floors like splashes of paint on a canvas, he’d bought Sasuke two cacti ‘cause: _“They’re as prickly as you! Plus your place needs a little color.”  
_ And he _definitely_ didn’t mind when three weeks into their friendship, Naruto had taken to buying himself a toothbrush to leave in Sasuke’s bathroom cupboard and overtaking a drawer of Sasuke’s wardrobe to fill with his clothes. Naruto slept over so often he’d taken to borrowing Sasuke’s clothes and forgetting his own in the hamper, so when Sasuke had to do his laundry he was forced to do Naruto’s as well. 

His initial annoyance with that particular inconvenience was replaced with troubling satisfaction the moment Naruto had put on his clean clothes and remarked that they _smelled a lot like Sasuke_ with a ridiculously content smile. 

Sasuke chose not to focus on the now familiar drumbeat his heart had taken to dancing to every time Naruto gave him one of his smiles. At least his stomach stopped believing it was competing in the Olympics. 

He’d never felt this way about another person before, and he had no idea what to make of it. He’d never had a close friend before...his closest friend was his own brother, Itachi. 

He’d never had someone who was so concerned with making him have _fun_. God knows Itachi’s tried his best when they were both much younger, but his older brother had always been swamped with trying to live up to their family’s expectations, he barely had any time and he couldn’t waste what little he had on ‘fun’. Sasuke could sympathize now that he’s in the same position. 

So as much as Naruto was a distraction, he was still a very welcomed one. 

Sasuke chances a glance behind him and represses a smile at seeing Naruto spread like an undignified, dead eagle on his bed, fast asleep and snoring. It’s half past one in the morning and he’d been studying diligently at his desk for hours while Naruto had tried unsuccessfully to study on his bed. This was a common occurrence now that they were both preparing for finals. 

Though Naruto is a fine art major and so most of his courses relied on projects rather than exams, he still had a couple of finals to take for his science requirements. 

He’d come to Sasuke a week ago complaining about not understanding anything in those courses and Sasuke noted the red blotch on his forehead (probably from falling asleep on his face while studying), the sunken eyes, and the gnawed lips and— taking pity on the guy, had offered to help him at least pass his finals (Had he known Naruto would waste his generous offer by sleeping most of the time, Sasuke would’ve probably—Nah, he would have still offered). 

Naruto, in his gratitude, had tackled Sasuke to his bed and wrapped arms and legs around him like an overeager koala, face buried in Sasuke’s neck and practically shouting his thanks in his ears. 

Sasuke had reddened and flung him off hurriedly. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to Naruto’s very frequent invasions of his personal space. 

The blond does it with everyone, he’s noticed. He’s extremely physically affectionate. He’s also noticed it’s particularly intimate with him but he refuses to think more of it, it’s probably Sasuke’s imagination anyways since he wasn’t used to it. For all he knew Naruto could be the type to cling to any and all of his friends. 

Sasuke was certainly no expert on social etiquette when it came to platonic relationships...or romantic ones for that matter. Business relationships were more his domain, so who was he to jump to any conclusions? 

“Naruto,” Sasuke says, still seated at his desk. He turns in his chair fully in exasperation and calls Naruto’s name again. He gets a groaning snort in reply. “Come on, idiot. Get up. You still haven’t finished solving half of the equations.” 

He knows Naruto can hear him when the boy scrunches up his face and mutters something unintelligible before turning on his side to bury his face in Sasuke’s pillow. Sasuke rolls his eyes and throws his eraser at him, it bounces off of Naruto’s butt and lands with a soft ‘plop’ on the hardwood floors. Naruto doesn’t react so Sasuke quickly asks for patience from any deity above as he gets up to poke Naruto’s tangled legs with the back of his pencil. 

“I’m not gonna listen to you whine about failing, moron. Get up.” 

Naruto moans and kicks a leg out in what he thinks is Sasuke’s direction in a demand he stops poking him. 

“I will, once you get the fuck up,” Sasuke says calmly as if he were speaking to a very stubborn child. 

Suddenly Naruto lifts his head up, his hair a mess of random spikes with red blotches all over his face and wrinkles of sleep. “Ugh. Why am I friends with you.” his voice is rough with sleep as he lifts a hand to rub the kinks in his neck. 

Sasuke smirks, “Because, I’m the one thing standing between you and Fs this term. Now go wash your face.” 

Naruto yawns a ‘Yeah, yeah.’ and waves him off. Satisfied, Sasuke watches him rub his eyes then get up to head to the bathroom, once he shuts the door behind him, Sasuke walks back to his desk to continue studying. 

Minutes later Naruto comes out refreshed and scratching at his stomach, revealing the rather toned muscles beneath the shirt despite having atrocious eating habits. He clears his throat which causes Sasuke to swirl around in his chair with a raised eyebrow. 

“I’m, uh…gonna go get a drink, want anything?” Naruto gives him a bleary-eyed but expectant look. Sasuke shakes his head and points at an energy drink on the desk next to his book. 

“I’m good.” 

Naruto nods and walks out. Sasuke could hear him fumbling around in his kitchen shortly before hearing the shattering of glass probably, followed by loud cursing. 

“Sorry! I’ll get it!” he hears the blond yell from the kitchen and Sasuke wishes this was unusual, it’s actually the fifth glass Naruto breaks in his hurried clumsiness. Sasuke made a note three weeks ago to start buying plastic cups instead. It’s like living with a toddler. It’s odd that Naruto never seems to break anything at work. Probably ‘cause he knows it’ll come out of his paycheck so he’s extra careful, meanwhile he clearly doesn’t give a shit about Sasuke’s stuff. 

Naruto walks back into his room again, carrying two glasses, one filled with a yellowish liquid, the other clear. He places the glass of water next to Sasuke’s energy drink with a half smile and flicks the side of Sasuke’s neck. 

“Don’t just drink that bullshit, you need water too.” he says simply. 

Sasuke grunts and mutters his thanks, his back to Naruto who sits behind him at the low coffee table where his books are spread out messily. 

The next couple of hours are spent in companionable silence as both boys focus on their respective subjects, interrupted only by Naruto’s occasional frustrated huff, clicks of his tongue, or muttered curses. 

Sasuke downs the last of his water and decides to take a break to help the idiot out. He turns around and faces Naruto, elbows resting on his knees. 

“Need help?” he points at Naruto’s books. Naruto offers him a pout and lets out a long groan. 

“I doooooooo man—but I don’t wanna distract you!” 

Sasuke shakes his head and gets up to plop himself down next to Naruto, “I’m done for the day.” 

“Then you should probably sleep, it’s almost four a.m,” Naruto grumbles but doesn’t insist. They both know how much he needs Sasuke’s help. 

“Shut up. Now, what’s the problem?” 

Naruto explains where the concepts feel fuzzy to him and Sasuke in turn, simplifies them for Naruto. Naruto was actually quite clever, he picks things up fast once they’re explained to him at a proper level. He wasn’t by any means dumb. His strengths lie elsewhere that’s all, and once he actually understands something, it sticks with him so he wasn’t all that hard to tutor. 

They spend the next hour with Naruto going over everything that’s confusing him and Sasuke explaining things easy enough for the both of them, all the while Naruto’s shoulders brush lightly against Sasuke’s, his thighs keep touching Sasuke’s, and his breath keeps ghosting and mingling with Sasuke’s own. They’re sitting close together and neither seem to mind, but Sasuke notices that Naruto keeps getting impossibly closer every time he would shift. 

He doesn’t think it’s intentional, not at first. But then Naruto drops all pretenses and actually wraps his arms around Sasuke’s shoulders, burying his face in the pale neck. 

Sasuke freezes, unsure of what to do or how to respond. “Naruto?” he asks quietly. 

“Mm…” Naruto’s mumbled reply vibrates against Sasuke’s neck and he represses a shudder. 

“What? What, you wanna stop?” Sasuke is definitely uncomfortable, but it isn’t because of Naruto’s general clinginess, that’s frequent enough for it to stop being uncomfortable. He’s uncomfortable because he has no idea how to react to sudden intimacy. Usually, he’d push Naruto away during his bouts of clinginess, or let him linger for a few seconds before Naruto himself would pull away. This is a teeny bit more intimate than usual…

And Naruto isn’t pulling away, he’s also practically in Sasuke’s lap. 

“Yeah…yeah, I wanna stop.” Naruto admits. His lips brushing against Sasuke’s neck. 

“O…kay? Are you good?” Sasuke asks. Naruto nods against him once and stops, pulling his face back to look at Sasuke. Sasuke could feel his face flush from the proximity. He really isn’t used to this, but he can’t find it in him to push Naruto away. 

Naruto’s blue eyes stare into his for a few moments before he pulls away further, arms still wrapped around Sasuke loosely. 

“Sorry—is this okay?” he asks, almost shyly. Sasuke swallows against the lump in his throat and offers a slow nod. The answering smile eases Sasuke’s anxiety a bit, but Naruto tugs him back into a tighter hug. 

“I know I can be very physical. I grew up this way so if I’m ever too much just tell me…” Naruto explains, face back in Sasuke’s neck. “I know you’re probably not big on shit like this.” 

Sasuke scoffs, he’s not wrong. “What gave you that idea?” he says sarcastically. 

Naruto chuckles, picking up on the humor behind Sasuke’s voice. 

“Oh I dunno. Maybe it’s the fact that your arms are literally hanging limply at your sides,” he replies and Sasuke notes that Naruto’s actually right, he hadn’t hugged him back at all. He hadn’t even thought to do so. “Or maybe…it’s that giant stick up your ass that you can’t ever seem to dislodge. I can help with that you know? I’m a certified ass-stick dislodger!” Naruto pulls back with a laugh when he sees Sasuke’s peeved expression. Sasuke punches his arm lightly. Naruto falls back with a loud chortle on the cushions spread around the table when Sasuke growls and pins him to the ground, thighs trapping Naruto’s lower body and hands tightening around tanned wrists. 

“What was that? Care to repeat?” he smirks when Naruto chokes on his own spit as he laughs, unable to repeat anything even if he tries. “You know…I heard an interesting little tidbit about you from Sakura the other day…” he starts, hands releasing Naruto’s as the blond continues to laugh, chest heaving in an effort to calm himself down. 

Sasuke sits back on top of Naruto, his ass planted firmly above his knees. Naruto pushes up on his elbows, one hand wiping a few stray tears of laughter from his eyes. 

“Oh yeah?” he asks offhandedly, still distracted with fading mirth. He doesn’t notice Sasuke’s widening smirk and wandering hands that travel sneakily closer to Naruto’s sides. 

He leans down so that his lips were close to Naruto’s ears to whisper, “Mmhm yeah. She told me that you have really, _really_ sensitive sides.” 

Naruto’s blue eyes widen in realization and before he could get more than an “Uchiha, don’t you fucking da—” Sasuke’s fingers descend swiftly upon his ticklish sides and Naruto _shrieks._ His body jerking away instinctively, arms flailing against Sasuke’s merciless tickling. Naruto’s loud squeals of laughter mixed with curses and choked warnings fall on deaf ears as Sasuke continues to tickle him, only stopping when Naruto literally couldn’t breathe anymore. 

He sits back with a smirk and watches Naruto’s flushed face and chest heave gulps of air, blue eyes glaring half-heartedly at him. Naruto sits up too after a few moments, still breathing heavily. 

“I’ll get you back for this, Uchiha.” 

Sasuke scoffs, “It’s been two months already and you haven’t gotten me back for anything once. Save your empty threats for someone else.” 

Naruto growls and tackles Sasuke to the ground, Sasuke lets out a loud ‘oomf’ as they roll around but quickly manages to get Naruto into a choke hold, who by now knows that the only way out is to tap-out. He resists the urge for a few moments before breathing really becomes an issue and he taps-out.

Naruto moans, his hands going up to rub his neck. “It’s not _fair_! I haven’t been trained in the deadliest martial arts style since I could _walk_! This is cheating!” 

Sasuke shrugs and offers the blond a hand to pull him up, which Naruto takes but instead of pulling himself up, he pulls Sasuke down on top of him and locks his legs around the Uchiha’s hips fast. Sasuke doesn’t have time to react before he feels Naruto’s arms sneaking quickly around him to trap his arms to his sides. He struggles for a good bit and grunts when Naruto’s arms and legs tighten around him like some bloody snake winding around its prey—and that’s when he realizes the position they’re in. 

Naruto doesn’t seem to notice since he’s _laughing_ (something about Sasuke’s face looking like an overblown tomato) _,_ but Sasuke does and he stiffens tellingly in Naruto’s arms.  
He’s unbelievably close to Naruto like this, it isn’t like their previous half-hug-half-cling, this is…much more sexual. Their entire fronts were pressed against each other, _tightly_. His face was facing Naruto’s directly and he could count every freckle and every laugh line the blond has. Most importantly, his crotch was dangerously close to Naruto’s, if he struggles any more they’ll actually start grinding on one another and the scary thing is—he realizes belatedly— he actually wants to.  
He could feel the trickles of arousal and mortification warming him up, so Sasuke lays completely still, his mind short-circuiting in an effort to find a way out of this.

Naruto finally notices and loosens up around him, his legs unlocking and falling to the sides and his arms letting go of Sasuke. He looks up at Sasuke with worried eyes, “Hey—hey I didn’t hurt you did I?” he lifts a hand to brush Sasuke’s bangs back and that sends a jolt to Sasuke’s brain that makes him scramble up and off in a hurry. Naruto staring at him in surprise at the sudden movement. 

“Uhh..no. No I’m fine. Just…just tired.” Sasuke offers lamely. Naruto doesn’t believe him, he can see it but the blond doesn’t say anything after staring up at him for a few moments. 

Finally, he sighs and moves to stand up, offering Sasuke a pat on his shoulder once he’s at full height. 

“It is late, we should probably turn in.” 

Sasuke nods and they both move to settle onto his bed, Naruto takes his usual place next to the wall with Sasuke lying next to him, back turned. He is still reeling from the intimate position he was put in, his heart hammering in his ears and his body attuned to Naruto’s next to him. He suddenly has no idea how to react or what to say. What if he had suddenly popped a boner in the middle of their rough-housing? What if Naruto noticed and would be disgusted he’d feel that way towards a friend? Sasuke would then he’d end up losing the one friend he managed to actually make. He squeezes his eyes shut, he can’t lose Naruto over this. 

No way. It doesn’t matter that Naruto is objectively attractive, so were a lot of people. Sasuke isn’t going to act on a simple physical attraction. He is just going to have to be more careful from now on, it’s not like he _likes_ Naruto romantically. There’s no reason for the blond to know about his body responding the way that it did to his touch. It’s normal, Sasuke’s healthy and young…no shame in it. He just doesn’t want Naruto to get the wrong idea about it. 

Behind him, Naruto shifts and turns on his side, facing Sasuke’s back. 

“Sasuke…” he starts, voice small. 

He wants to ignore the blond and pretend to be asleep, but Naruto’s voice sounded really hesitant.  
“…what?” Sasuke croaks after a few seconds.

Naruto is silent for a few moments before his hand touches Sasuke’s back gently, “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” 

Sasuke’s confused at the apology for a second before he turns to face Naruto. “I wasn’t—” 

“Yes you were. I felt it.” Naruto interrupts, his blue eyes apprehensive as they stared into Sasuke’s and for a second Sasuke’s brain is screaming at him: _Felt what?!_

He manages to swallow the lump in his throat, “Okay I was. But not for the reasons you believe.” Sasuke admits. His hand going up to push his hair out of his face. 

Naruto sits up on a side elbow, “What do you mean?” 

Sasuke sighs, “I’m not—ugh.” he cuts off in frustration. “I’m not uncomfortable with _you_ Naruto. I’m just…” he’s only half lying, but what was he supposed to say? _Sorry I got scared I was going to pop a boner?_

“I’m just not used to it. My family, we’re not—we’re not what you would call affectionate.” Sasuke heard it’s best to lie with the truth, and if Naruto thinks physical intimacy is the sole reason he froze over then Sasuke is going to take that and run with it, it’s not that far from the truth anyway and it’s infinitely better than the actual truth. 

Naruto smiles, “I figured as much. My family can be suffocating with their affections and I know I can be overwhelming sometimes. If you think I’m bad, wait ‘till you meet my parents.” he gives a choppy, nervous laugh.Sasuke ignores the anxious anticipation at the words ‘meet my parents’. 

“So like I said earlier—just tell me if I ever am too much for you and I’ll back off, I promise.” 

Sasuke scoffs, “I don’t know, I’m getting used to your clinginess. Frankly, I’m not sure what I’m going to do if one day you greet me with a regular ‘hello’ instead of a tackle-hug.” he finishes playfully. 

“I resent that! I just like hugging you.” Naruto admits sheepishly. 

Sasuke feels his cheeks flush at the admission. He grunts and turns his back to Naruto again to hide his reddening face, which turns out to be useless since Naruto catches it anyway. 

“Aww! Sasuke are you blushing? Did I make you blush?” Naruto scoots closer and throws an arm around Sasuke’s shoulder to poke at his cheek. Sasuke slaps the hand away and tells him to shut up and go to bed already. 

Naruto laughs, “I’m going to cuddle you.” he announces in a weird tone that’s both demanding and seeking. He gives Sasuke a few moments to refuse or push him away and when he doesn’t Sasuke can practically feel him grin at his back before he wraps himself around Sasuke’s body, legs sneaking in-between the his and arm curling around a tight waist. Naruto inhales audibly, the tip of his nose brushing the nape of Sasuke’s neck and it causes Sasuke’s skin to break out in goosebumps. “Good night, jerk.” Naruto breathes through a small yawn. 

Sasuke hums a reply and closes his eyes and sends a quick prayer to any god listening that he doesn’t wake up with a boner, or if he does, he’d be far away from Naruto as possible. 

He could untangle himself or push Naruto away, but somehow, with the guy wrapped around him like a comforting blanket on a cold night, Sasuke can’t find it in him to hate this or refuse it. In fact, he kind of likes it. 

So he falls asleep like that, in Naruto’s arms warm and content, wondering how is it possible that Naruto managed to get through so many of his walls in such a short time. 

 

___________________

 

The next morning, they wake up to Sasuke’s alarm with them entangled in each other, which, while isn’t new, it’s still the first time they went to bed that way. Sasuke extracts himself from Naruto’s warm embrace and yawns as he sits up on the edge of his bed. Behind him, Naruto lets out a soft whine at the loss of his cuddle-pillow, then rolls towards Sasuke’s side of the bed and settles comfortably in the heat still lingering there. 

Sasuke sighs and flicks Naruto’s forehead. “Get up, loser. You have the morning shift.” he grumbles as he walks to his bathroom, ignoring Naruto’s groggy movements and sleepy mumbles. 

Almost fifteen minutes later when Sasuke comes back out, Naruto’s already changed into jeans and graphic T-shirt. He grins at Sasuke when he turns to see him, “G’morning!” he says cheerfully. Sasuke grunts in reply. Naruto might take a while to wake up, but he was awfully chipper in the mornings once he does. It’s definitely too much for Sasuke’s still booting brain. He needs coffee. 

Sasuke goes to the kitchen to make both of them a cup while Naruto heads to the bathroom to freshen up. He grabs cream and sugar and adds it to Naruto’s mug with a wrinkle of his nose, he had to buy those for the blond when Naruto complained quite loudly and obnoxiously at the fact that Sasuke drank his coffee black, despite having guessed that little tidbit when he first met him. 

_“How the fuck can you put that shit in your mouth?”_ Naruto had been outraged and had demanded they go buy creamer and sugar, otherwise, Naruto would have to boycott Sasuke’s house. Sasuke had been averse to the idea, but Naruto had somehow managed to rope him into going to the twenty-four-hour convenience store at seven a.m. anyway. 

He knew it should’ve bothered him how much of an influence Naruto had on him, but he had honestly been more amused than actually bothered. 

So now Sasuke has a can of powdered creamer and a box of sugar cubes in his cupboards and he’s gotten used to making Naruto’s coffee every morning whenever the blond sleeps over, which happens more often than not. 

They were rarely seen without the other these days. They take the same shifts at work whenever they can, they take the same days off too and spend them together. They study at Sasuke’s place most of the time, and Naruto has taken to leaving a lot of his belongings here, claiming his own apartment was noisy with four other roommates living with him. He’s here so often, that Sasuke doesn’t even bother watering the plants Naruto got him, the blond does a great job of doing that on his own. 

Naruto comes bounding out of the bathroom to stand next to Sasuke, who hands him his mug and watches him inhale gratefully. He mumbles his thanks to Sasuke who gives him a short nod as he takes his own mug into his hands and sits on the small dining table. Naruto moves to take two slices of toast and shove them into the toaster, neither saying anything as they let the morning mood wash over them. Despite having known each other only a couple of months, Sasuke feels curiously comfortable with him. Naruto is, in every sense of the word, a handful, but he has this natural easygoing aura that made even the most trivial things seem interesting. 

The spring of the toast makes Naruto jump and he takes them both out to place one in front of Sasuke, the other in his own mouth. 

“You gotta eat something, coffee’s bad on an empty stomach.” Naruto tells him, ruffling Sasuke’s soft hair. Sasuke glares at him, too tired to slap him away and instead sips his coffee quietly.

Naruto sits next to him chewing on his bread slowly and smiling into his mug. Sasuke eyes him for a moment then says, “Don’t forget I’m picking you up from work today.” 

Naruto nods then snaps his fingers, “Oh, right. Can we swing by my place after? I need to pick up a few textbooks before we come back here.” 

Sasuke shrugs in affirmation, getting up to dump the rest of his coffee in the sink. He grabs his messenger bag as he walks towards the apartment door. 

“Lock the door on your way out.” He tells Naruto who gives him a mock salute in reply. 

“Break a leg!” Naruto calls behind him. Sasuke hides a smile as he closes the door. He honestly didn’t even really care about his final. He knew he’d ace it. He just couldn’t wait for it to be over. 

____________________

 

Three hours later Sasuke’s back at the mall, car parked in its usual spot. He’s almost at the shop when he notices Sakura and Naruto playing with a deck of cards beside the register. Not a single customer in sight. 

_Must be a slow day._

He approaches them quietly but Naruto notices him anyway and his lips break out into a grin, “Hey! How’d your exam go?” 

Sasuke shrugs one shoulder as he stops to stand in front of them, “Aced it, probably.” 

Sakura giggles while Naruto rolls his eyes, “You here to pick him up?” she asks, Sasuke notes the sly smile playing at her lips. He ignores it. 

“Yeah, is Ino here already?” 

Sakura nods, “She’s in the back.” she chews on her bottom lip for a second then continues, “I was thinking we could maybe grab lunch together? I’m starving.” 

Naruto nods excitedly but Sasuke quirks an eyebrow, “And who’ll be watching the shop?” 

At this moment, Ino chooses to walk out of the stock room carrying a small box. She places it on the counter and grabs a cutter knife out of the pencil cup to slice it open across the taped slit.  
She grins, “I’ll be here. Already ate. You guys have fun!” She dismisses easily, too easily and Sakura squeals, blowing her a kiss and grabbing her bag which had been stuffed in a small cupboard behind them. She hooks one arm each around Naruto and Sasuke and proceeds to drag them both out of the store. Naruto happily chatting with her at one side, while Sasuke continues to feel highly suspicious at the other side.

It’s not like they don’t do this often, it’s just the way Sakura _looked_ ; entirely too full of barely restrained glee and _that_ more than anything, set Sasuke on edge. 

_She’s planning something…_

He was sure of it, he just didn’t know what it exactly was. 

They walk to the food court, all the while Sasuke keeps a close eye on Sakura. She had let go of him but was still clinging to Naruto, the blond’s arm trapped to the side of her breasts. Sasuke takes a deep breath and walks ahead of them. He knows he has no right to come between them, they’ve known each other for years, but Sasuke can’t help but feel annoyed at their closeness anyway. Sakura makes it a point to touch Naruto everywhere, and Naruto is incredibly welcoming and affectionate with her too. He’s that way with Sasuke as well as Ino, but there’s a certain delicacy to his touches with her. In the way that he brushed the hair from her face while she talked (Sakura not even blinking at the movement, like she was so used to it), in the way he wrapped a loose arm around her waist to pull her against him, in the way that she _fit_ against him, or the way they held hands…the aura around them screamed Couple! Couple! But neither one of them cared. 

Sasuke grits his teeth and walks to a lone table with four surrounding chairs. He sits himself down with more force than is necessary, the chair squeaks under the sudden pressure. Sakura and Naruto follow close behind, reaching him in a few moments to sit down with Naruto across from him and Sakura next to him. 

“So Sakura, what do you feel like eating?” Naruto asks, leaning his elbows on the -questionably- clean table. 

Sakura shrugs, “I’m not sure yet. What are you guys getting?” 

Before Sasuke can answer, Naruto cuts him off. “I’m getting ramen and Sasuke’s getting sushi.” he turns smiling blue eyes to Sasuke, silently asking him if that’s right and Sasuke nods in astonishment.  
Naruto gives him a cheeky grin, “Don’t give me that look. It’s about all you eat here, Uchiha. It’s either that or a sub.”

The idea that Naruto’s been that observant with what Sasuke chose to eat should’ve maybe weirded him out? But all Sasuke could feel was a pleasant warmth spreading in the pit of his stomach, the kind that filled your head with a fluffy cotton-like feeling, like finding out your mom got you your favorite meal unexpectedly. 

Sakura’s hum brings him out of his thoughts, her green eyes staring at Sasuke disconcertingly. He doesn’t know why it feels like he should hide his feelings, but he does it anyway. He pulls on a mask of indifference, feeling an overwhelming sense of protectiveness over his and Naruto’s relationship. There’s a sense of exposure looming overhead and he has no idea where it came from (nor what it is exactly being exposed), but he heeds its warnings. 

Sakura finally blinks and turns to Naruto with a tilt of her head, “Alright, I’ll probably buy myself a burger.” she smiles. 

Naruto nods and moves to get his order. He stops a few steps away and cocks his head in a confused frown, “Sasuke, aren’t you coming? You don’t expect me to carry our shit alone right?” 

Sasuke is silent when he moves too, his eyes never leaving Sakura’s as he pushes the chair back into the table. Sakura waves at them cheerfully and tells them she’ll hold the table, which is actually unnecessary since the food court is relatively empty. 

When they come back, Naruto’s carrying a tray and Sasuke’s carrying two brown bags. He tosses one to Sakura as they approach the table again and places his own in front of him. Sakura shoots him a glare at the poor treatment her burger receives and gives him a light slap on his forearm for it. 

“You won’t believe what Naruto and I had to deal with today!” Sakura starts as she tears into the wrappings. Naruto’s eyes widen excitedly, fingers breaking the wooden chopsticks. He motions vaguely at Sakura with a laugh, “Oh man. This dude came in today asking if he could use our scented oils as lube.” 

Sakura grimaces at the reminder, chewing on her burger slowly. “Yeah, then he asks if the oils are edible. Honestly, you’d think we’d get used to this by now but nope.” she huffs when Naruto laughs. 

“My favorites are the ones that buy the massaging tools thinking they’re sex toys. Those never get old.” Naruto adds. 

Sasuke smirks, he’s had to deal with a couple of weird customers so far, but none that were…that…ignorant? Misinformed?  
He watches Naruto and Sakura talk animatedly for a bit, jumping topics and easily navigating each other’s thought processes. Naruto has a tendency to start talking about something, only to abandon it and focus on an entirely unrelated subject that has most people looking like the perfect imitation of a question mark. Sakura, however, has no trouble keeping up with the conversational whiplash and sometimes even predicting those thoughts. Sasuke guesses it probably comes from spending so much time with each other since childhood, but the deduction brings him little comfort.

Naruto suddenly turns to him and Sasuke blinks to focus, “What?” he bites. He hadn’t meant to sound so callous but Naruto didn’t seem to care, choosing to roll his eyes then reach towards Sasuke’s sushi plate to pluck a roll and place it fully into his mouth carelessly. 

Sasuke doesn’t care, he takes another one out and places it on Naruto’s tray. “That’s your last one,” he tells him with a point of his chopsticks. Naruto grins around his food then swallows. “Aww. Sasuke you know two’s never enough for me!” 

“Naruto, there are only four left, including the one on your tray.” 

“One more.” Naruto bargains. Sasuke shakes his head a ‘no’, aware of Sakura suddenly going quiet and watching them. 

Naruto leans in, pushing his tray a bit towards Sasuke, “Pleaaaase. You can have some of my ramen!” 

Sasuke scoffs, “You know I hate ramen.” 

“You know I eat everything!” Naruto counters. 

“How is that my problem?” 

Sakura suddenly giggles, causing them both to turn their eyes on her. 

“What?” they both say in unison. Sakura only laughs harder as she waves them off, “It’s nothing! I’ve just been wondering when exactly you two had gotten so close?” 

Sasuke frowns and Naruto shrugs with a smile, “Believe it or not, Sasuke’s actually fun to be around. Once he stops being such a dick.” he finishes with a wink. 

Sasuke scowls, “You’re not so bad yourself. Once you stop being such a moron.” 

“Ooooh, great comeback Uchiha. Come on what else you got?” Naruto mocks, but the effect is ruined by the playful smirk. Sasuke finds himself smirking too as he leans in, face inching closer to Naruto’s across the table. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he challenges. 

There’s a moment in which Sasuke stares unblinkingly into Naruto’s blue eyes, noting the unconcealed mirth in them and—he finds himself wanting to take this a step further, whatever _this_ was. However, before he could even contemplate doing anything about it, Sakura makes a gagging sound next to him, effectively getting them both to snap out of whatever it is that charged the atmosphere. 

“Ugh. Gross guys. Get a room.” She bites her lower lip in a grin before standing up to throw her bag in the appropriate bin. 

Naruto leans back into his chair slowly, oddly quiet and cheeks flushed. He scratches at his cheeks and lets out a choked laugh at Sakura’s comment. “Don’t be weird Sakura!” he shouts after her, Sakura turns to face them with a hand on her hip and a deadpan expression. 

“Whatever. I’m going back to work.” she twists and walks away from them both with a small wave. Leaving both to deal with the aftermath of an offhanded and misplaced comment. 

Sasuke growls. He’s going to _kill_ Sakura. 

For now though, he takes a look at Naruto only to see him beaming at Sasuke. 

“Let’s go home, I’m dying to beat your ass at Halo.” he declares, his whisker marks crinkling with the challenging grin he gives Sasuke. 

Sasuke thinks Naruto is probably diverting their attention to something less embarrassing and more familiar, and it works. Sasuke falls for it, perhaps because it’s a lot safer than considering the implication behind Sakura’s comment. 

“You wish, dead-last,” he replies. Naruto’s answering cheer making his own lips twitch. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is kinda uneventful (I actually don’t like it, and I pictured it differently but I don’t know what to do about it or what exactly is bothering meeeeee D:).  
> I kinda just wanted to focus on how their relationship dynamic changed. Also, Naruto gets extremely clingy when he’s insecure, I know he’s a bit confusing since we don’t actually know what he’s thinking but this story will exclusively be in Sasuke’s POV so feel free to interpret his actions however! For now ;)  
> I added the bad flirting tag because I sincerely believe these two idiots would legitimately suck at flirting with each other.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unedited!

Winter break finally arrives. They have two glorious weeks of vacation and Sasuke intends to spend every minute of it lounging about, at least when he doesn’t have to work. Winter means Christmas, and the holidays can be chaotic in retail, or so Naruto griped at him one day, face buried in Sasuke’s couch cushions and voice taking on varying degrees of distress. 

Though Black Friday had been a waking nightmare a month back (Two women fought over shower gels, one of them elbowed the other in the tit and had to be escorted out by the mall’s security. Who the fuck fought over shower gels?) Christmas—apparently, will not be any better. 

Sasuke shoves at Naruto’s sprawled feet and moves to sit next to him on the couch. Naruto lifts his legs to accommodate Sasuke only to let them fall back onto the Uchiha’s lap immediately, almost knocking the drinks Sasuke’s carrying right out of his hands. Sasuke narrows his eyes with a click of his tongue then hands Naruto one of the beers, who takes it with a sheepish smile. 

“I told Sakura and Ino that you and I are taking the later shift tomorrow,” Naruto informs, sipping on his beer. Sasuke nods, leaning over to place his own beer on the coffee table and grab the remote to change the channel (Sasuke notes it’s Cartoon Network and his eye twitches) on his TV. 

“Hey! I was watching that!” Naruto digs his heels into Sasuke’s thigh in reprimand. Sasuke scoffs but quickly places his hand under Naruto’s heel to stop him from digging further. 

“You were watching The PowerPuff Girls?” 

Naruto nods furiously, “Yes, asshole. Now put it back on!” 

Sasuke complies with a smirk. “You’re so gay.” 

Naruto scoffs at him as he sits up to twist around and replace his feet with his head on Sasuke’s lap. The latter’s fingers almost automatically going to tangle through blond tresses. 

“Everyone loves The PowerPuff Girls. ‘Sides, I’m not the one with actual rainbow colored slippers.” 

Sasuke’s fingers still in Naruto’s hair, his face flushing in embarrassment. “That’s all Itachi. He got it for me as some sorta stupid ‘coming-out’ joke.” 

Naruto laughs heartily at that, “I gotta meet your brother, he sounds hilarious.” 

The comment makes Sasuke pause in consideration, noting that…he actually doesn’t mind the idea at all. Naruto turns so he’s lying on his back instead of his side and stares up at Sasuke for a few moments, making the youngest Uchiha give him a quizzical look. 

“What?” 

Naruto licks his lips, his throat bobbing when he nervously swallows. “I—uh, I was just thinkin’ about inviting you for dinner next weekend…” 

Sasuke raises an eyebrow, “You know I hate your apartment. Your roommates are a psychosocial hazard.” 

Naruto gives him a flat look. “They’re excitable. Don’t be a jerk.”he says that like he’s talking about a bunch of puppies (they’re not.) Naruto pauses when he looks away and Sasuke notes the freckles on his cheeks becoming more prominent in the blond’s sudden… embarrassment?

“Anyway, no…I meant…I meant dinner with my family?” his voice turns into a squeak towards the end in his nervousness and Sasuke freezes. His fingers falling from Naruto’s hair as he tries to process what it is exactly Naruto’s asking from him. 

He doesn’t mind it. In fact, he finds himself wanting to meet Naruto’s parents for some inexplicable reason, but the idea of going through with it in reality fills him with dread and anxiety.

And Sasuke has no idea why. This is normal right? Friends do this too don’t they? Why is he so concerned about what friends do or don’t do? 

Apparently, he takes too long to answer because the next thing he knows, Naruto is sitting up to stare from an even height into Sasuke’s eyes. Legs crossed and teeth worrying his bottom lip when Sasuke doesn’t respond and he lets out a loud sigh that startles Sasuke. 

“What’s up with you, man? I’m not asking you to be my boyfriend or something.” Naruto attempts a joke to lighten the sudden tension in the air. 

But Sasuke isn’t laughing, the joke does serve its purpose in diverting his attention long enough for him to actually respond though. 

He scowls. 

“Don’t make stupid jokes. Of course I’ll come, I was just surprised.” Sasuke dismisses easily and misses the flash of hurt that twists Naruto’s lips. 

Naruto gives him a strained grin, clapping him on the shoulder before settling back into his earlier position, with his head resting on the opposite side of the couch and Sasuke immediately misses the warmth Naruto steals from him. 

They eat dinner when it arrives in silence, Sasuke’s scowl doesn’t disappear during the entire ordeal and he keeps catching Naruto giving him pinched looks, he can’t tell if he’s annoyed or hesitant or a mixture of both. Sasuke doesn’t even know why he’s bothered, he’s getting a headache just thinking about it. For a genius, he has a lot of trouble deciphering his own moods. He just knows that it’s the way Naruto said ‘boyfriend’ like it’s an insult to even think about, something about that really didn’t settle well with him. But that’s ridiculous, why would he be offended over that? 

Naruto is quiet beside him, he seems to debate something in his own head before finally licking his lips and bumping Sasuke’s shoulder with a fist. 

“Let's go to the dojo” Naruto says. 

Sasuke’s brows draw together, glancing at the time on his phone, his frown deepens. 

“Naruto, you realize it’s almost eleven?” 

Naruto lifts a shoulder in half a shrug, “Let’s go anyway. No one’s gonna be around right?” 

Sasuke considers the question, the dojo should be empty. His family usually rents it out most days of the week, but it’s too late for any classes right now and he does have the keys. As long as they clean up after…it shouldn’t be a problem. 

Sasuke hesitates, he cards a hand through his hair. Beside him, Naruto is waiting for confirmation with restrained excitement and probably hope from the way his eyes practically sparkle. 

“Come on, Sasuke. It’ll be good for you.” He’s not quite pleading, it’s more of a demand than anything else. 

Sasuke stares at him for a moment, he has a feeling Naruto’s doing this for him…and the idea of channeling his random frustrations into his fists is really really appealing. He’s not even surprised Naruto had suggested the entire thing as a result of picking up on that frustration. Naruto pointed out more than once how Sasuke’s mood translate clearly across and tend to sour the ‘vibe’. He’s always complaining about how Sasuke probably makes it his mission to _‘harsh everybody’s mellow!’_

Decision made, Sasuke uncrosses his legs to stand up. “Fine. Let’s go.” 

Naruto whoops with a pump of his fist. “I’m gonna beat your ass, asshole!” 

“Keep dreaming, dumbass.” 

 

______________________

 

When they arrive, the dojo is expectedly empty and dark. His family’s dojo is pretty big, with mats littering the floor and various equipment lined at different corners. Sasuke comes here to workout sometimes, not just train. Naruto’s been here a few times since the blond invaded his life and had commented on how the dojo’s really well-maintained and polished. 

They take a few minutes setting up, turning on the lights, and grabbing the wrist wraps. They didn’t bring any gear or change into appropriate outfits. They’re both still in their sweats. Both boys take off their jackets, shoes and socks. Naruto throws his to the side somewhere while Sasuke folds his and sets his keys on top. 

They walk to the centre and spend a few minutes stretching and warming up, both focusing on their wrists and shoulders. Sasuke thinks they both plan to exercise the same muscle groups. Naruto then grabs the wrist wraps he’d thrown to the floor with his jacket, and throws one to Sasuke and they take a few more minutes to properly wrap their wrists and hands, usually Naruto would wrap his ankles as well, but it doesn’t look like he wants to use his legs much tonight. Sasuke hears Naruto walking to the far corner where a few punching bags are set up. 

He tilts his head a little to watch Naruto out of the corner of his eye. The blond wastes no time in getting into position, taking a typical, loose kickboxer’s stance. Feet placed slightly wider than his hips and angled, his torso tilted slightly forward, and right fist close to his face while his left is a bit more to the front of his body. He bounces a bit on the balls of his feet then abruptly strikes the bag in successive jabs, the sound of his pounding fists echoing in the empty dojo. 

Sasuke smirks and focuses on tying his wrists more efficiently. Once he’s done, he takes position behind another punching bag three feet away from Naruto’s and exhales. 

His hands are in front of his face, he doesn’t bother taking the right position and he lets himself go. Sasuke descends on the bag with three successive strikes followed by an elbow strike. He switches lead hands and throws more punches, exhaling with each strike. 

The first few moments in his head are quiet as he slowly drowns out the world, Naruto’s own heavy breathing in front of him becoming background noise as he focuses on channeling all his frustrations into powering up his strikes. He doesn’t know how much time passes but he doesn’t care, Sasuke continues to strike at the bag, lifting his knee up a couple of times into it despite the fact that he hadn’t planned on using his legs either. 

The bag starts to swing with the force of his punches and it disrupts his rhythm. He growls and steps back a pace before swinging back at it with a roundhouse kick, effectively pushing it further from him. The frustration that’s been building wasn’t finding a suitable target and it was pouring off of him in waves. Sweat is starting to form on his forehead and he wipes at it in irritation. Sasuke can feel himself getting impatient, he wants to hit something that hits back. 

He hates how out of control he feels, he hates how he can’t explain what it is he feels in the first place. He doesn’t know when—no he knows when it started. His eyes flicker to Naruto’s moving form in front of him. It started when he met him. Ever since then Sasuke’s had trouble understanding his feelings, why they swing abruptly from relaxed and content, to irritable and aggressive and he has no idea why. Why is it always about Naruto? No one else evokes these things out of him. 

Clenching his fists, Sasuke grits his teeth and squeezes his eyes shut. He lets out an unhinged snarl and punches blindly and sloppily at the bag, he doesn’t even care. He’s just so—angry.

In his anger, he doesn’t even notice that the bag stopped swinging back with every strike. 

When his strikes finally start dying down,he opens his eyes and he’s panting. He straightens up and wipes the grimy sweat off his face, finally noticing Naruto’s cheeky presence behind the bag, the blond’s hands stabilizing it against Sasuke’s blows. 

“Damn, what’s got your panties in a twist?” 

Sasuke glares. Lips pursing as he lifts the hem of his tank to wipe his face properly. Gross, he’s gonna need to change when he gets home. 

“I hate using the bags. They move too much. I can’t—”

“You can’t unload properly, but it’s not exactly a moving target that can punch back either. yeah, I know.” Naruto finishes for him. 

Sasuke nods. He decides to head for a heavier bag when Naruto’s wrapped hand descends on his shoulder to stop him. 

“How about we spar?” 

Sasuke’s eyes widen, spar together? Against each other? They’ve only ever done that playfully. If he spars against Naruto in this state of mind, he might end up hurting him. It’s not overconfidence in his skills,it’s the fact that Naruto’s never faced off against a vastly different fighting style such as Sasuke’s. Naruto might not be able to read him correctly if Sasuke slips in the heat of the moment and aims for a painful strike. Plus, Sasuke’s pretty sure Naruto’s the main source of his anger and he—yeah, no. 

So Sasuke says, “No.” with finality. 

Naruto’s grip tightens around him, “What, scared Uchiha?” 

Sasuke rolls his eyes, “For you, yes.” it’s amusing that Naruto thinks goading him is going to work. 

Naruto bristles, his hand falling from Sasuke’s shoulder and looking very much like a harassed cat. “Fuck you! I’m not fragile enough for you to be so worried about me! That’s so fucking insulting. Get your head out of your ass Uchiha and fight me!” 

Sasuke ignores Naruto’s rant, yeah no way. He’s not going to be the reason Naruto ends up with a fat lip tonight, or worse. 

“Hey! Don’t fucking ignore me!” Sasuke does, he hears Naruto stomping after him and shakes his head. Great, now the idiot is determined to prove him wrong. 

Sasuke turns to tell him to fuck off, but instincts take over when he barely registers the flying fist at his face. He dodges it by a hair and steps to the side, muscle-memory making him immediately fall into a defensive stance. 

“What the fuck, Naruto!” he barks at him. 

Naruto doesn’t say anything. Instead, he goes on the offensive and throws a few punches Sasuke’s way. Sasuke blocks and redirects the attacks away from him. He notes in the back of his mind, that Naruto isn’t pulling his punches at all either. He can feel the raw power behind them and he has to take him seriously otherwise he’ll end up being the one with a fat lip. 

Naruto bounces around him, while Sasuke tries to read where his next strike will go. Naruto’s left shoulder shifts minutely and a powerful straight comes right at him, Sasuke blocks it with his right forearm, his left automatically striking Naruto’s chest. It connects successfully, forcing Naruto a step back, Sasuke’s eye twitches when he sees the feral grin on the whiskered face. 

_The twisted fucker is enjoying this…_

“That was weak,” Naruto taunts, rolling his shoulders. The sweat on his forehead sliding down his temples and he takes a moment to wipe it off. “What else you got?” 

Sasuke knows Naruto’s baiting him, he knows it and he really shouldn’t fall for it, but he does. 

“It’s your fucking funeral, blockhead.” 

“Bring it on, bitch.” 

He does. They descend on each other, a flurry of movements. Dangerous kicks and punches are thrown with practiced ease and deliberate aim. Naruto takes a few hits to his torso, while Sasuke gets a couple of Naruto’s “lucky” kicks to his obliques. His shins were fucking made of metal.

But they barely register the pain, the adrenaline in their system pumping and working in overdrive and Sasuke feels _alive_ , no longer worried about things he doesn’t understand. No longer focused on the inner turmoil, no—he’s completely taken by the person in front of him. The way Naruto moved, he’s constantly shifting his weight. He moved with such power, his jabs don’t let up, they come together in fast straights and the occasional hook. He almost landed an uppercut had Sasuke not moved towards the inside and blocked it, redirecting its energy to the outside. 

Naruto follows immediately with a straight, but Sasuke blocks it, then grabs his arm, pulling Naruto’s body momentarily towards him to knee him in the torso. Sasuke jerks a few steps back immediately, panting as Naruto groans and crosses his arms over his middle. 

“Had enough, dumbass?” this time it’s Sasuke doing the taunting. 

Naruto flips him off and shakes off the pain of the hit, “You wish, asshole. I could do this all night!” 

And he’s not lying, they must go at it for another thirty minutes before Sasuke starts to feel weary, while Naruto shows no visible signs of exhaustion. 

Sasuke’s noticed though, throughout the second half of their spar, Naruto had started taking a more defensive position, he started blocking more, evaded more, and baited Sasuke more than once. Like he’s purposely trying to get Sasuke on the offensive. 

It worked. 

Sasuke hadn’t realized it at first, he hadn’t noticed he was the one throwing the punches and Naruto was the one absorbing them. Sasuke had to admit, for a kickboxer, Naruto’s pretty talented at reading an opponent who wasn’t one, he’s doing much better than Sasuke expected (hadn’t he said he competed for a while…?) Though Sasuke is landing hits more often than not, it didn’t stop Naruto from learning and shifting his weight, bouncing right back up. The same move never worked twice on him. 

So he unleashed. He wailed on Naruto and the boy did his best to avoid or block every hit, and he did it with a leering grin. 

Fifteen minutes later, they’re both panting, Sasuke’s bent over trying to catch his breath while Naruto’s next to him sprawled on the floor doing the same. 

There’s only the sound of their harsh breathing for several long minutes until Sasuke collapses onto his knees. 

“Fuck, Naruto. Where do you get all that energy?” 

Naruto chuckles, breathless. “Uhh…Ramen?” 

Sasuke makes a half disbelieving, half disgusted sound. Choosing to not dignify that with a reply. 

A few moments later, Naruto sits up on his elbows and considers Sasuke. 

“You look like you’re doing better.” 

Sasuke thinks that’s hilarious because he personally thinks he looks like a rumpled duck. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he doesn’t look at Naruto. 

Naruto snorts. “Don’t lie. What was bothering you?” 

Sasuke’s mind flashes back to Naruto’s joke and the scowl is back tenfold, “Nothing.” he bites out. 

“Sasuke I’m not blind. What—”

“Stop, Naruto. Just, stop. Stop prying. I don’t know and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t understand.” 

Naruto sits up fully, expression fiercely determined. “Try me!” 

“No. It’s my problem and this…this helped, but I’m done. So just drop it okay?” 

Sasuke can see Naruto’s brows drawing together in frustration, can see him clenching his fists. 

“Fine. But lets do one more round so I can punch your face in for being an emotionally stunted bastard.” 

Sasuke chuckles, still breathless. “Fair enough.” 

They get up and spend a few more minutes sparring lightly this time, their limbs loose and bodies satiated as they bathe in the aftermath of the fading adrenaline. 

After that, they close up the dojo and go their separate ways. Sasuke's infinitely thankful he gets his bed to himself tonight, although he’s far less on edge than he had been earlier in the night, a part of him thinks Naruto sleeping next to him wouldn’t have helped tonight. He’s exhausted and beyond grateful that his body’s so loose and his mind is blank. 

He vaguely thinks back on how Naruto knew exactly what to do to get him to relax a little and smiles absently to himself. He takes out his phone, shoots a quick message of ‘ _Thanks_ ’ to Naruto and collapses on his bed. He’s dead to the world the moment his head hits the pillow and misses Naruto’s ‘ _Glad I helped extract that stick up your ass. See you tomorrow, bastard!_ ’

 

_______________________

 

The next day, Sasuke finds himself ten minutes early to work, but the store’s lights are already on which meant Naruto’s there. The glass doors were locked so Sasuke fishes out the keys from his pocket to unlock them. When he reaches the stock room, he pokes his head inside and calls for Naruto, he’s met with a startled yelp in reply. 

“Stop fucking sneaking up on me like that!” Naruto yells at an amused Sasuke. “I should make you wear a goddamn bell or something, fucking bastard thinks he’s a cat…” Sasuke ignores the rest of Naruto’s muttering, turning to stand behind the cash register instead. 

He could vaguely hear Naruto fumbling in the stock room then shouting at him to _“Maybe you could lend me a hand here asshole!”_ though Sasuke continues to ignore him in favor of whipping out a duster to quickly but carefully go through the various shelves lining the walls. 

A few minutes later, Naruto walks out looking very much annoyed with a hand on a cocked hip and blowing a few stray bangs out of his eyes. Sasuke gives him a one-shoulder shrug, a playful smile twisting his lips. 

Naruto rolls his eyes, his expression turning to one of puzzlement as he raises a hand to card through his bangs, huffing when they keep falling into his eyes. 

“Hey, have you seen my—”

“Right side of the register.” Sasuke interrupts with a vague wave of his hand. Naruto’s eyes immediately land where Sasuke had indicated then light up in recognition. He grabs the two neon pink Hello Kitty hair clips to pin his bangs to the side, grinning in thanks. Sasuke holds back a smile at the ridiculous look. Naruto’s been using these clips for over a month now, ever since a tiny three year old girl offered them to Naruto when he gave her some Skittles as some sort of weird exchange of gratitude. Naruto’s so ridiculously fond of those hair clips, so much so that he’s taken to wearing them at work literally every day since then. 

“You look stupid.” Sasuke doesn’t know why he says it, but it doesn’t affect Naruto in the slightest who sticks out his tongue at him. 

“Your face is stupid.” he then grumbles that Sasuke is just ‘jealous’. 

Sasuke represses an amused smile. Naruto looked every bit as dumb as he should, but it was oddly endearing and Sasuke was _so_ done with himself.He was done being confused at his own thoughts and feelings, why the fuck does he think the idiot looks absolutely adorable, and why is his heart vehemently agreeing? He’s so tired. 

He’s long since accepted that Naruto is just different from anyone else he’s ever met. Not better exactly, just different. Sasuke couldn’t put a finger on it, but the air around Naruto is relaxing, inviting, comforting almost…and Sasuke finds himself letting his guard down around the blond more and more every day. Things he didn’t think he’d ever be okay with were suddenly welcomed when they came from Naruto. Things like random physical affection, easy conversation, engaging arguments, laughing stupidly— these were the types of things Naruto could easily pull out of him, silly things that were completely _normal_ in any relationship— but somehow felt _extraordinary_ with Naruto. 

Sasuke is used to being reserved, he’s not used to having someone wash off all the carefully layered masks and break down all the doors he’s kept locked against everyone besides his own family. It’s as frightening as it is refreshing to have someone scale those walls to make a place for himself inside Sasuke’s life—without even actively _trying_. 

The one thing that bothered Sasuke about it was the fact that Naruto’s like that with _everyone._ What feels special to Sasuke is actually just commonplace for Naruto and it’s… frustrating, it makes him restless, hands itching to do _something_ about it even when he has no idea what he _could_ do. He thinks that maybe that’s the source of his constant mood-swings? 

Granted, he’s also acknowledged the coiling desire to monopolize Naruto, to make him focus only on Sasuke, to consume his life the way Naruto’s consumed his. This isn’t new, he’s had that desire since before they became friends, but lately it keeps getting bigger and bigger. Like a balloon inflating inside his chest and Sasuke thinks it might burst at any given moment. The terrifying thing about that? Sasuke has no idea what’ll happen when it finally explodes. 

“Wat’cha thinkin’ about?” 

Sasuke doesn’t jump, but his shoulders do tense when Naruto places his chin on it, his breath tickling the right side of Sasuke’s neck. 

“You.” he admits easily. He could practically feel Naruto’s answering smirk. 

“Oh Sasuke, you naughty boy. I told you we can’t fool around at work.” 

Sasuke rolls his eyes and shrugs Naruto’s chin off, but Naruto’s arms come circling around his waist, stopping him from moving away completely. 

This…has been happening a lot lately too. Two days ago, Naruto had lifted Sasuke’s arm and placed it around his own shoulders to settle himself comfortably against Sasuke’s side while they watched some godawful movie, where the blond proceeded to subsequently fall asleep and Sasuke spent the entire movie telling himself to focus _on_ the movie, fingers twitching with a spasming need to simply _hold_. 

A few days before that, he’d decided that the most comfortable position to kick Sasuke’s ass from was between Sasuke’s bent knees. Sasuke’d been sitting on the couch while Naruto was cross-legged on the floor when Naruto abruptly moved and crawled to slide himself between Sasuke’s legs where he spent the rest of the night yelling at Sasuke to _stop fucking cheating at_ _Mortal Kombat!_

Frankly, it was getting distracting. Sasuke was never one for casual physical intimacy, even the few times he’s engaged in any sexual activity, it had been absolutely devoid of any intimacy. It had been simply about fulfilling a biological need. 

But Naruto’s always been physically affectionate, and lately it’s increasing in frequency and intimacy and it’s been making Sasuke feel a little less casual and a little more—

He subconsciously stops that train of thought immediately, part of him clearly not ready to open that particular door. 

“You know it’s your ass on the line if someone walks in right now and decides to report us.” Sasuke taps Naruto’s arm pointedly. Instead of discouraging him though, he feels Naruto’s arms tighten around him to pull him flush against Naruto’s chest. 

He growls in warning and can practically hear Naruto’s answering toothy smile against the nape of his neck. 

“How am I supposed to resist you when you’re so cuddly though?” he chuckles and _Oh,_ _that’s it._ With a snarl, Sasuke twists in Naruto’s grip and rips his arms off him only to crowd the idiot against the counters lining the wall behind the register. 

One hand comes up to lay flat against Naruto’s chest as he leans in closer, stopping inches away from Naruto’s amused face. “First of all, I’m not fucking cuddly. Second, don’t fucking start something you can’t finish moron.” Sasuke warns. 

The amusement turns into a challenging glint when Naruto pushes back against Sasuke. “Who the hell said I wouldn’t, Uchiha?” 

Sasuke’s own lips twist in an answering sneer. “You’re all bark and no bite, idiot.” 

Naruto’s grin is absolutely ferocious, but before he could retort, a loud slurping sound cuts off their exchange— and like a bucket of ice water had been dumped, both boys spring back in their shock, immediately turning to look at the intruder…s. 

“You know, we do have a perfectly good stock room you guys can use to make out…” starts Sakura. 

“Mm. This was entirely unnecessary. I need to wash my ears out with bleach. Who the fuck taught you guys to flirt?” Ino continues, slurping loudly again. 

Twin sets of blushes color both boys’ cheeks and Sasuke thinks he’s never been more mortified in his life. He schools his expression into one of cool indifference though, and scoffs at the giggles the girls let out at seeing their reactions. 

Naruto is a stuttering mess behind him, but he finally manages to dismiss the entire thing. 

“We weren’t—that wasn’t—arrgh! What are you even doing here?! Your shifts are over!” 

He has a point, Sasuke and Naruto were taking the last shift. Sakura’s eyes still carry a bit of amusement but she answers by swinging the several shopping bags in her grip. 

Ino decides to answer verbally for her, “Sakura and I are shopping for a small Christmas get-together we’re having, figured we’d stop by…we wouldn’t have bothered had we known you were oh so _busy_.” she wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. 

“A party! When?!” apparently, Naruto didn’t need much to get distracted. 

“Not a party, just friends exchanging Christmas gifts since most of us are leaving for he holidays.” Sakura explains, moving to set her bags on top of the counter. 

“And you don’t have to get any gifts, it’s just our usual group.” Sakura pauses when her eyes land on Sasuke then gives him a wink. “Oh and Sasuke too.” 

Ino frowns, “Well, I _demand_ gifts because I got _everyone_ a gift. Yes, you too Sasuke.” she gives him a meaningful stare-down, he replies with a grunt. But when both girls purse their lips and narrow their eyes, he sighs and gives in. 

“Fine, whatever. I’ll come to your party.”

Both girls give him satisfied smiles. 

“Not a party.” Sakura insists while Ino moves to sidle up next to Naruto and sneaks an arm around his waist, guiding him to the stock room. “By the way, I gotta ask you something in private!” she tells him, her other hand whipping her long ponytail behind her. 

Naruto groans but doesn’t resist her pulls, “Inoooo. Please don’t ask me to buy you something expensive you know I’m broke.” They disappear into the room after Ino smacks Naruto’s bicep, all the while Sasuke’s eyes follow their figures in suspicion and mild irritation and he’s so tired of feeling unnecessary jealousy every time. He’s only aware that he’d been staring when Sakura nudges his side with an elbow. 

“You okay?” she asks quietly, furrowed brows coloring her features in concern. 

“How’d you know?” he blurts. 

Sakura’s frown turns to an expression of confusion. “How’d I know what?” 

He clenches his jaw, clamping up instantly. Shit, he hadn’t really meant to ask her that. 

“Oh no. You’re not closing off on me. Tell me…what’d you mean?” she pries. It’s gentle, but no less annoying even when he knows it’s coming from a place of concern, but it doesn’t make being open any easier on him…not unless she’s a certain blond-haired, whisker-cheeked idiot.

“How…” he starts—pauses, then relents with a sigh. “How’d you know I’m gay?” 

Sakura blinks at him twice and he immediately wishes he’d kept his mouth shut. He’d never openly acknowledged her guess back then and he hadn’t planned to acknowledge it now, but it _had_ been bugging him. 

People generally assumed he lacked any sexual interests or desires and that’s usually worked in his favor. So he’s curious, how was she able to tell? 

Sakura clears her throat, “Oh..um, it was kinda obvious?” she uncrosses her arms and licks her lips. She leans forward a bit surreptitiously, head whipping to take a quick look behind her. “I mean…the way you were looking at Naruto kinda gave you away.” she whispers, afraid Naruto might overhear even though they could both hear him laughing loudly and arguing with Ino in the stock room about something or the other. 

Sasuke’s eyes widen, his shock clear and uninhibited. His heart starts beating a mile a minute and for the first time in his life, he’s speechless. He’s never—he knows Naruto’s objectively attractive but he’s never—had he? No, no. He’d have known if he did.

“What the fuck do you mean?” he hisses, suddenly angry at her for insinuating anything. “I’m not attracted to Naruto.” 

Sakura raises an eyebrow at him, a soft, but not unkind laugh tumbling from her glossy lips (which only serves to further infuriate Sasuke). 

“Oh sweetie, are you sure? ‘cause from where I stand, it looks like you’re carrying the mother of all torches for him…” 

Sasuke is silent, the simmering anger melting away in his consideration of the statement. He hadn’t…he didn’t think he’d entertained the idea beyond a passing thought brought on by initial acknowledgement of Naruto’s physical features, and that was _early_ into their friendship. That isn’t what Sakura’s implying though…she’s making it sound like it goes beyond that and _that_ had never consciously entered Sasuke’s mind. He’d acknowledged feeling a mild attraction but he’d never considered it being the reason behind— 

Is that the reason why he’s always so…possessive? Irritated at any attention the blond receives and jealous when Naruto’s affections are directed at anyone else? He figured it’s normal since Naruto’s his first real friend and the guy’s just so _popular_ with everyone… 

He never thought it went deeper than that, even if he’d (rarely) allowed himself to play with a few sexual fantasies in his head, he hadn’t allowed himself to go beyond that. He’d been so careful about it, he’d never _wanted_ it to go further than that…had he? Is that why he’d been so angry last night about Naruto’s joke…? Did he actually _like_ Naruto? Like _that_? 

No, no it was ridiculous. Sasuke wasn’t dumb, he’d have realized it if he’d felt anything beyond simple attraction. Then again, he’d also never experienced a romantic relationship—had no interest in experiencing one at all—so maybe…

“Sasuke?” Sakura’s voice cuts through his thoughts like a lance. He turns to train his dark eyes on her and notes the now worried expression on her face. 

“Look forget I said anything. I’m probably reading into it too much, don’t let it get to you okay?” she lets a hand fall to rub Sasuke’s forearm, meant to comfort but served to agitate the Uchiha. 

He gives her a slow nod and pulls his arm away, not caring for the hurt that makes her pout. 

She nods to herself and moves to poke her head inside the stock room and call Ino. Both blonds emerge bickering over something meaningless—Sasuke guesses— and a few minutes later, the girls leave. Naruto waves them off then slumps against Sasuke’s side with a sigh, making Sasuke instantly tense. 

Naruto notices and stands straight to look him in the eyes. “You good?” 

“Yeah. Just tired.” 

Naruto doesn’t believe him, its obvious in the way he narrows his eyes and thins his lips but lets it slide anyway. 

“Few more hours and we’re free to go! How about we get some pizza before heading back to your place? S’better than waiting for delivery.”Naruto offers, bumping their shoulders together. 

Sasuke eases up a bit, his shoulders falling as he exhales slowly. He rubs a hand against the back of his neck then twists it before nodding. “Yeah sure. I’m down for pizza.” 

Naruto’s bright grin makes his breath hitch and Sasuke knows he’s definitely killing Sakura the next time he sees her. 

_Fuck…_

__________________________

 

The rest of the day Sasuke couldn’t stop thinking about what Sakura had put in his head. If he was honest with himself though, she didn’t put it there. No, if he’s honest it was probably always there, hidden and locked behind that door in the back of his mind. Sakura had simply blown that door to pieces, viciously letting everything he’d subconsciously stopped himself from thinking about come pouring in. 

No, if Sasuke was honest, he’d felt something…every time Naruto would smile at him and make his stupid goddamn heart beat wildly in his chest, or every time the idiot obtrusively violated his personal space with casual touches and heartwarming hugs, every time Naruto just _looked_ at him and treated him like a _normal_ person instead of an Uchiha, every time he’d make fun of Sasuke for being so uptight and somehow wrestling a smile out of him, or sometimes even a laugh. 

Naruto was so different from everyone else he’d met. It wasn’t that he possessed unique traits, it was that he knew how to maneuver people easily. He knew how to handle Sasuke, knew how to make him smile and when to back off, knew just when to push and when to pull. It was something Sasuke appreciated, especially when he finally understood that Naruto’s intentions had never been anything but sincere. 

Sasuke finds himself staring at Naruto. They’re in his apartment sprawled on Sasuke’s couch, box of pizza open on the coffee table with four crusts abandoned courtesy of Naruto who was flipping through TV channels with peeved disinterest marring his features. 

Sasuke doesn’t understand, he spent the last few hours trying to make sense of _why_ Naruto and he still doesn’t know why. He still can’t even fully acknowledge the fact he might harbor some feelings for someone who’s fast-becoming his first real best friend. 

He’s drawn to him. That’s something he’s sure of, it irritated him from the very first day he’d met him and it slowly morphed into begrudging admiration, mixed with a little appreciation. 

He liked the way Naruto made him feel. It was a completely selfish feeling, but it makes it no less true. 

With Naruto, Sasuke didn’t have to think about his duties, he didn’t have to think about the pressure he’s carried for as long as he could remember, he didn’t have to think about living up to his father’s expectations, of stepping out of Itachi’s boundless shadow—and it’s not like Naruto’s doing anything specific about it. They weren’t having deep conversations about Sasuke’s worries (Sasuke isn’t the type to share anyway), or sharing some deep dark secrets…somehow, the idiot’s presence was enough. Naruto was just _there_. There in his loud laughter and cheerful smiles, there in his cries of indignation and scowls of irritation, he’s there in silly arguments, he’s there in silent encouragement and loud distractions. He’s just _there._

He makes it easier for Sasuke to breathe, lifts a weight he didn’t know he carried off his shoulders. 

Sasuke wants to achieve, it’s not like he didn’t. He loves his family and he’s determined to make them proud, but somewhere along the way he’d forgotten how to live for himself. Naruto’s presence was a constant reminder of what his life could be like, not necessarily easier but bearable—almost fun. 

And Naruto had no idea he’s doing it. The moron has absolutely no idea how much his friendship means to Sasuke—has no idea of the sheer magnitude of his effect on him. 

So no matter what his feelings tell him, Sasuke’s sure of one thing: He one-hundred percent has no intention of ruining this. Naruto had shown no indications of being remotely interested in pursuing anything _beyond_ friendship with Sasuke, his easy flirtations and casual intimacy weren’t reserved for Sasuke and he refuses to read into them. 

Naruto’s pretty straightforward, if he’d wanted more he’d have probably asked a long time ago…but he hadn’t and Sasuke wasn’t about to destroy what they have on a newly discovered whim of his. He didn’t want to lose his best friend for feelings he hadn’t even acknowledge before today. 

He’s just gonna have to lock that damned door up again and bury the key. 

Naruto’s feet, which were under Sasuke’s hands, flex a bit before slipping off to push against Sasuke’s hipbone. 

“Soooo what’s up with you? You’ve been awfully quiet…not that you’re a regular chatter box.” Naruto mutes the TV and gives Sasuke an expecting look. 

Sasuke shrugs. “It’s nothing.” 

“Mm. You can’t lie to me Sasuke. You’ve been scowling all day and I know I surgically removed that stick up your ass months ago. So what gives?” 

Despite his foul mood brought on by confusing thoughts and an unresolved issue, Naruto manages to make Sasuke smile, then immediately frown because there he goes again—easily making him feel better with a fucking sentence. One that’s actually kind of insulting at that. 

He shakes his head, “It’s nothing, Naruto.” he insists. Naruto gives him a frown, twisting his body so that his head is in Sasuke’s lap. 

“Look I’m not gonna push. I just think you really need to stop bottling every little thought in that pretty head of yours.” Naruto laughs when Sasuke scrunches his face up at the word ‘pretty’ then flicks his forehead. “I’ve been told I give sage advice, you know.” he grins. Shuffling a bit on the couch to bump his shoulders against Sasuke’s. 

Sasuke scoffs, his hands going to tangle in Naruto’s hair and a part of him is yelling at him for the habit while the other ignores the pleased purr that slips out of Naruto at the action. 

“I seriously doubt that.” 

“Hey! Are you insulting my intelligence?” 

“Yes.” Sasuke deadpans. His fingers were suddenly gripped by Naruto’s own, stilling them in blond locks. Naruto’s eyes lose all signs of playfulness. 

“All joking aside, I mean it. Just talk to me…” 

Sasuke hesitates, he knows he can’t tell him what’s really bothering him but Naruto isn’t going to let this go. Once the stubborn idiot got something into his head he turns into a dog with a bone. 

Especially since Sasuke’s been particularly irritable with him lately. 

He sighs, “I can’t.” he admits. Naruto opens his mouth to try and pry something out of him anyway but Sasuke slaps a hand over his mouth to silence him.  
“I can’t talk to you about it because I’m not even sure what _it_ is, alright?” he goes for half-truth, it’s easier than coming up with a lie. 

Naruto’s eyebrows draw together and Sasuke feels his lips parting then curling under his hand. He removes it with a soft chuckle when Naruto’s words are muffled against his palm. “What was that?” 

Naruto shoots him a half-hearted glare. “I said, tell me what it’s about then. We can figure _it_ out together.” he makes air-quotes around the word ‘it’. 

Sasuke groans, “You’re not gonna let this go are you?” 

Naruto beams at him, “Nope! So you might as well spill.” 

Sasuke sighs as he cards his fingers through his hair, turning to look at the muted TV screen instead of at Naruto. He takes a few minutes, trying to come up with something to say and Naruto waits patiently, moving to settle his head comfortably in Sasuke’s lap with his blue eyes peering up at him in silent encouragement. 

“I…I don’t know how to do this.” Sasuke breathes. He feels his cheeks color at willingly exposing himself, even if he’s not planning on doing so fully— it’s still embarrassing.

Not uncomfortable though, he knows Naruto enough to know the blond would never judge him even if he _were_ to confess right then and there. He realizes with startling clarity that perhaps this is what makes Naruto so different from the rest; he doesn’t know the others well enough to make that judgment obviously, but does it really matter when Naruto’s already…providing? 

Sasuke swallows. “I don’t know how to express myself. I can’t. I can’t share this with you Naruto, I don’t know how.” 

Naruto considers him for a moment, then he’s moving to sit upright next to Sasuke, shoulders touching and a hand sneaking to wrap around Sasuke’s own. Naruto offers a tiny squeeze and a smile. 

“Well, that is a start.” he offers and Sasuke rolls his eyes. 

“Don’t patronize me.” he spits, facing away from Naruto, he moves to tear his hand out of Naruto’s but Naruto pulls his back with a tightening grip. 

“Not what I’m doing, asshole. It’s called comforting you. I’m not trying to belittle you, I’m telling you that acknowledging the fact that you can’t articulate your feelings _is_ articulating them.” he lets go of Sasuke’s hand, opting instead to lean his chin on Sasuke’s shoulder. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.” he finishes. 

Sasuke turns to look at him and shifts back so their faces aren’t inches apart. “I don’t know how to get what I want or if what I want really is something I want…” Sasuke trails off, teetering off into almost dangerous categories. “Or if going after what I want is worth the risk.” 

Naruto chuckles, his breath fanning Sasuke’s face. 

“You’re starting to sound like me, Uchiha. That was almost confusing and really vague.” 

Sasuke sighs, “Not helpful.” 

Naruto shrugs, moving back to cross his legs under him. “Hey, I’m not a miracle worker.” he grins.  
“Anyway, you’ll never know I guess. Not unless you take the risk. Ask yourself this though: If you don’t take the risk, are you going to regret it for the rest of your life?”

“What if taking the risk results in me regretting it for the rest of my life anyway?” Sasuke counters. 

Naruto shakes his head, “Nu-uh. Not how it works, buddy. If you take the risk then you have an answer, one way or another. If you don’t—you’ll just be stuck in static, unable to move on and wondering for the rest of your life whether or not you should’ve gone about whatever it is you’re worried about a little differently.” he shrugs. “‘Sides, if you make the jump and it ends badly for you, you’ll eventually move on because you’ve got the one thing the other option can’t give you…” 

“And what’s that?” Sasuke asks skeptically. 

“Closure.” 

Sasuke stares at Naruto’s face for a few moments. Naruto gives him a tired smile before yawning, he stands up and stretches his arms above his head and Sasuke continues watching him, wondering how it is that even though Sasuke doesn’t have an answer for his muddled feelings, Naruto’s somehow managed to ease some of his worries anyway. Simplified the entire thing despite how severely complicated the situation was in Sasuke’s head. Sasuke watches the boy he calls his closest friend walk towards Sasuke’s bedroom in quiet admiration. 

“You coming to bed or not?” 

Sasuke is startled out of his revere by Naruto’s sleepy voice by the bedroom door. He swallows and nods, “In a bit…” he croaks. 

Naruto gives him a thumbs up before disappearing behind the door. The moment the door is firmly closed Sasuke’s head falls to rest against the back of the couch. He lets out a deep sigh as he rubs his temples. 

“I’m so screwed…” he whispers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god Sasuke finally acknowledges his feelings. About fucking time. You only had to have it spelled out for you!  
> Hope you guys liked this chapter, I kinda enjoyed writing it! Tell me what you liked~  
> Next chapter (should be) the final chapter but I have a feeling I'll have to split it, it's getting so long and I might be a little late in posting it (midterms D:)  
> I might also add an epilogue depending on how I feel about the last chapter's ending (which I haven't written yet).  
> Anyway! Please comment and motivate me into writing out the rest ASAP and thanks to everyone who leaves lovely comments already!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm late, life got hectic and this chapter was a nightmare I had to split it. Hope you enjoy! Unedited sorry D:

When Sasuke wakes up, it’s to Naruto spread next to him like a starfish and Sasuke—Sasuke is ready to die. 

Better yet, he’s ready to take Sakura down first. 

He thinks he preferred it better when he was just a confused jumble of feelings because it’s definitely better than _this_. It’s better than obsessing over the way Naruto looks like right now. Which isn’t saying much because Sasuke wishes he could wax some gross poetry about the idiot looking like a beautiful angel or some shit, but he doesn’t. He _really_ doesn’t. 

He’s snoring obnoxiously loud, there’s drool sliding out and pooling under a scarred cheek, his hair looks like a hurricane ran through it, one of his knees is lodged uncomfortably against Sasuke’s kidney, and the blanket’s not only stolen (which alright, he’s used to by now) but bunched up uselessly at the foot of the bed (Why the fuck does Naruto keep stealing them if he was only going to kick them off in his sleep anyway?) All in all, he looks terribly unattractive and that is exactly what’s driving Sasuke insane. 

The fact that he finds him attractive right now and is fucking _aware_ of why he does is doing things to his head, things he’d rather not deal with at eight in the fucking morning with barely a couple of hours of fitful sleep. 

No, Sasuke doesn’t appreciate the clarity that’s been thrust upon him. Whoever said ignorance is bliss was right. 

Retrospection is a particularly cruel bitch right now. The entire night he’d been tossing and turning thinking about every interaction he could remember, about every physical moment they had, about every look Naruto’s given him and— _why, why why?_

He’s driving himself mad overthinking things, he knows it but he can’t control it. He doesn’t even get the point of it because he knows— _logically_ — that he isn’t going to do anything about his newly-discovered feelings. 

Why would he? How could he? Naruto is a pretty straightforward guy, and Sasuke is sure that no matter how many times he replays certain scenes in his head, they could only mean one thing: Naruto doesn’t feel the same way. 

If he did, the idiot would’ve probably blurted it out by now, it’s not like he understands subtlety. 

So the reality is Naruto had shown no indications of being remotely interested in pursuing anything _beyond_ friendship with Sasuke and Sasuke was not going to be the one to ruin it with what he knows is only temporary. 

Feelings always faded with time, right? 

He lets out a deep, mournful sigh then he shoves Naruto’s knee out of his back a little more vindictively (Naruto gives a startled grunt at that) than he would’ve liked to - but goddammit why _Naruto_ of all people? Why _now_? He was doing just fine living in his bubble of denial—this is all Sakura’s fault. He’s going to _kill_ Sakura.  
Sasuke moves with sluggish grouchiness, his mood taking a plunge straight down to hell. He walks into his bathroom to splash water onto his face and brush his teeth. He takes a look at the stirring blond in his bed and pauses, toothbrush sticking out comically out of pursed lips.

Naruto was scratching his stomach, blue eyes bleary and hair a wild mess and all Sasuke can think about doing in that moment is crawling back into bed next to this obliviously gorgeous human and kiss the hazy confusion right out of Naruto’s barely waking face. 

Ugh.  
“Sasuke?”

Sasuke hears the scratchiness of residual sleep in Naruto’s voice and he shakes himself out of that embarrassing thought, he finishes up and quickly rinses out any remaining toothpaste, grabs Naruto’s atrociously orange toothbrush to squeeze a bit of toothpaste on it, then goes to greet Naruto with a drawn out ‘Hmm’, resolutely ignoring the heat in his cheeks. 

Naruto gives him a dopey smile and makes grabby hands at him, which usually meant he’s channeling his inner cat and needed a fair dose of affection before he decided to really wake up. Sasuke barely indulged him in the past, and he was feeling less than inclined to do so now. 

“Bathroom’s free,” he says instead of indulging the overly affectionate moron. Sasuke hands him his toothbrush and ignores Naruto’s put-out expression. 

He leaves the room to go make them both a quick breakfast, eggs and toast, and prepare Naruto’s god-awful coffee. 

Naruto reemerges by the time Sasuke’s putting the eggs on a plate for him, he slides the plate on the counter just as Naruto steps next to him to grab it. Sasuke takes his own plate and Naruto’s coffee then sits at his small, two-chair, square table. 

Naruto follows and takes the seat across from him and offers him a grateful smile when Sasuke pushes the mug towards him. 

_Naruto’s_ mug. The one with ugly looking pugs all over it. Naruto cups the ugly thing and sighs when he takes the first sip. Sasuke watches how his blue eyes settle on one of the many cartoonish dogs and can see the pout forming before Naruto’s even done putting the mug down. 

“I want one,” the blond whines almost mournfully. 

“You want a pug?” 

“Yeah. I mean, no. I want a dog. Any dog. I just want a puppy.” 

Sasuke shrugs, “Then get one?”  
Naruto sends him a miffed look. “I _would_. Except that I _can’t_. My landlord would kill me if he found out.” he sighs, “Plus my roommates are loud enough without a puppy in the household.” 

He’s not sure when exactly Sasuke’s brain-mouth filter stopped functioning, but it’s clear that’s exactly the case. 

Why else would he blurt, “You can keep it here if you want.” 

He can’t even take it back, because the moment it leaves his lips, Naruto’s head snaps up and his eyes are so wide and so blue, and he’s staring at Sasuke like he hung every star in the sky. 

“Are you serious?!” he asks, hopeful and excited. 

_Too late, too late to take it back Uchiha. Just go with it._

Sasuke swallows thickly and forces himself to shrug nonchalantly. Pretending like he doesn’t feel his stomach flip-flopping, or his heart trying to beat itself into his throat. 

“Oh my God,” Naruto’s grinning so hard it looks like his face is about to split in half. He gives a breathless laugh as he leans back in his chair, “Fuck, oh my God! You’re the fucking best you know that?”

Sasuke tries to smirk but his lips twitch in protest, so he settles for looking down at his food, away from that burning, _happy_ gaze. “It’s not a big deal. They allow pets here.”  
Naruto laughs at that, “No. No.You’re amazing,” he says sincerely. “People don’t just offer to house their friend’s pets y’know?”

Sasuke doesn’t acknowledge the statement, but he does feel the heat of Naruto’s palm covering his own on top of the small table. Naruto’s rubbing the top of his hand, thumb stroking circles and knuckles brushing his own. He’s quiet, so Sasuke lifts his gaze back up and almost chokes at the expression he sees. 

Naruto’s—he’s beaming. His other hand is a closed fist against his tilted head, his cheeks are glowing pink,his smile is soft, and his eyes—God his eyes are so open and vast. The raw affection behind those eyes is bare for Sasuke and the entire world to see. 

Fuck, he’s barely even blinking.

Sasuke thinks about reaching over to cup the back of Naruto’s head and drag him into a gross kiss, full of half-chewed food and too-sugary coffee. Then he remembers why he _can’t_ and he’s overwhelmed—his throat’s constricting— by the fact that he’s on the receiving end of that expression and the fact that it’s not in the way that he wants and _that_ makes him want to puke. 

Sasuke’s other hand is picking at his food, trying his damnedest to distract himself, but he can’t. He is so struck by how much he wants exactly _this_ to be an everyday occurrence, how he actually _wants_ Naruto to share this apartment with him and not just as his best friend. 

His heart is beating so loudly in his ears. He thinks if Naruto stops chewing for two seconds he might be able to hear it too. 

He lifts his gaze to stare at Naruto who’s chewing his food with an absent look on his face and Sasuke hates that he thinks it’s cute. Naruto’s still stroking the top of his hand when his blue eyes shift to settle on him. Sasuke stiffens, feeling caught and oddly exposed.

So, before he can even think about what he’s doing, he’s standing up abruptly and clearing his throat. The movement causes them to break contact and it catches Naruto off guard as he makes a surprised, questioning noise in his throat. 

Naruto swallows, “You okay man?” 

Sasuke nods, swallowing thickly. He’s not sure Naruto sees it, but he doesn’t stick around to find out. He’s practically sprinting into his room to change his sweatpants into black jeans and grab the nearest long-sleeved navy shirt and his jacket, hurriedly pulling them on. He feels like he suddenly can’t get away fast enough. 

He walks out of the room and finds Naruto had already cleared the table and is walking towards him. Sasuke shoves his feet into his sneakers and makes to grab his keys off the small hall table when a tanned hand closes around his wrist. 

“Hey—hey! What’s wrong? Why are you in such a hurry?” Naruto asks with concern lacing his voice. 

Sasuke tries to twist his wrist free, Naruto squeezes once but lets him go. 

“I have shit to do,” he says simply. 

Naruto raises an eyebrow, “Uhh, since when? Work doesn’t start for a few hours and you’re usually home at this time?” 

Sasuke ignores the flutter in his stomach at the fact that Naruto knows his schedule and routine probably by heart. He sees Naruto’s hand moving to grab him again, so he shuffles out of reach. “I have to go. I’ll see you later okay?” He doesn’t wait for Naruto’s reply, “Don’t forget to lock up on the way out.” 

Sasuke hates that Naruto already practically lives at his place. He’s there so often Sasuke’s even requested an extra set of keys to his apartment for him a while back. 

He shuts the door and takes the stairs down in record speed, ignoring the throbbing ache in his chest. 

He’s fine. He’ll be fine. He just needs to keep his distance for a while, at least until his feelings die down. 

Meantime, he has a Sakura to kill. 

 

___________________

 

After that Sasuke spends some time driving around before deciding to head to work early. He has the morning shift at the shop with Sakura. Thankfully, Naruto and Ino have the next one so he doesn’t have to see the blond anytime soon. 

Sakura’s already there when he arrives and she gives him a bright smile that promptly falls right off when she sees the look on his face. 

“What’s wrong?” she moves to put her hand on his shoulder once he’s standing next to her with his arms crossed and a vicious look on his face. 

“You ruined everything.” He gives exactly zero shits at sounding so dramatic. 

Sakura’s eyes widen, her hand retreating back to her side. “What?” 

“You heard me Sakura. You’ve successfully ruined my friendship with Naruto.” 

At first Sakura’s expression turns to one of confusion, but Sasuke can see the moment barely restrained amusement starts to show when she bites her bottom lip to keep from grinning. 

“It’s not funny.” he glares at her. 

“I’m not laughing.” she clears her throat. Sasuke doesn’t believe her. “Okay, okay. Start over. What happened?” 

At the question, Sasuke clamps shut. He really doesn’t want her to know anything, he just wanted to let her know she officially ruined his first real friendship with someone and to let her stew in guilt. 

“Nothing happened. Next time, just mind your own fucking business, Haruno.” he spits and the amusement slips momentarily from her eyes. 

Sakura purses her lips, her green eyes narrowing as her hands settle on her hips. 

“Fine, don’t tell me. You don’t get to blame me though. I wasn’t the one denying my feelings Sasuke. They were bound to bubble up some time.” 

Sasuke whips around to glare at her, “No. No, they weren’t. I was doing fine before you went and put that idea into my head!” 

Sakura gives a mock laugh, “Ha! You’re so deluded! I didn’t put _anything_ in your head! If I’d been wrong then that would’ve been the end of it. I didn’t force you to have feelings for him, I just—”

“You just had to fucking meddle. What the fuck did you think would happen? That I’d be grateful? That this would somehow turn into something—No! Don’t fucking touch me.”

Sakura’s now looking at him with something akin to pity, the hand she had lifted to settle on him hanging limply in the air as Sasuke whips back around to walk out of the shop. 

“I’m taking my break now,” he ignores her calls, he can’t deal with looking at her right now. 

He needs to cool off, so he walks towards the parking lot and gets into his car. He slams the door shut and turns on his music loud enough to drown out the thoughts swimming in his head. 

Sasuke lets his head fall forward onto his steering wheel with a drawn-out sigh. 

That kinda went worse than he’d planned. He honestly just wanted to tell her to mind her own business and that’s it. He must be wound tighter than he thought. 

He knows this isn’t Sakura’s fault. Not really. 

He knows she’s right, Sasuke would’ve eventually realized his feelings for Naruto and he’d still be in this position, all freaked out and spooked. 

So maybe Sakura blasted the door wide open, but she wasn’t the one who put it there. That’s one hundred percent on him. He just needs to be angry right now, and she’s (unfortunately for her) the easiest target. 

He hates this. He really, really hates this. He hates feeling like he can’t see Naruto. He hates feeling like he’s about to burst--like his thoughts and feelings are just going to come right out without his consent. He absolutely _loathes_ feeling so…powerless. 

He has no idea what the hell he’s supposed to do now. He knows he can’t avoid Naruto forever—he doesn’t think he wants to. It’s not fucking fair.

_I didn’t ask for this._

______________________

 

An hour later, after he’s done sulking in his car, Sasuke shuffles awkwardly back to the shop. Sakura’s still standing in the same spot he left her. He thinks he should apologize, but he’s still pretty shit at doing that, he knows he owes her one though. She didn’t deserve to be yelled at. 

Sakura’s expression is so relieved the moment she sees him—her shoulders sag and her forehead unclenches—that Sasuke forgets she should probably be a little mad at him. She meets him near the shop’s entrance and before Sasuke can open his mouth she’s wrapping her arms around him and Sasuke freezes. 

This…he did not expect. 

“I’m so glad you’re back. Look, I’m sorry okay? You’re right I shouldn’t have meddled. I shouldn’t have—”

“You were right.” he cuts her off. 

Sakura steps back and tilts her head slightly in confusion, “I’m right—? You just about tore my head off an hour ago—you okay?” 

He smirks, “I mean, I was right too. You shouldn’t have meddled.” Sakura slaps his shoulder. 

Sasuke continues, “But yeah, you were right. It was bound to happen anyway.” 

She gives him a resigned, but somehow fond expression, one that’s akin to a mother with a particularly dramatic teenager sulking about how the entire world is against them.

He realizes in that moment that despite her meddling, the girl really cares for him and probably didn’t mean to give him so much grief. 

So that pulls an, “I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” out of him. Not quite an ‘I’m sorry for being a shit’ but close enough. 

Hey, it’s the best he can do right now alright. 

She smiles, her cheeks rounding with the movement and she shakes her head. “It’s fine. Just get back to work.” 

He nods and moves past her but Sakura grabs his sleeve and says, “I’m still sorry though, okay?” 

Sasuke grunts as he waves her off. And though this doesn’t solve any of his problems right now, he still feels a bit of relief. 

They work amicably for the rest of their shift. It’s a fairly quiet and slow day, most people just getting back from the end of the year holidays. 

It allows Sasuke’s thoughts to drift back to Naruto. This time taking a different path than usual. 

It’s like the moment he allowed himself to acknowledge his feelings, his mind felt free enough to constantly bombarde him with images of what could be, he hadn’t had a moment of rest since yesterday. 

The thoughts come unbidden and uninvited, completely out of his control and it makes him _feel_ unrestrained. A completely foreign concept to Sasuke, he’s so used to being in control of his every move, every thought…he’s not so confident anymore. 

Like if he somehow lingers too long on a thought, a wish—it’ll find its way past his lips, into his hands or through his body and he’ll act on them. 

He doesn’t feel safe in his own body anymore. He’s on edge, just waiting for it to betray him. 

It doesn’t stop his brain from assaulting him. It doesn’t stop the need that manifests itself in a suffocating knot deep in his chest. 

He thinks about the way Naruto woke up today, the way his face lit up at the mention of having a dog, the way _he_ felt for putting that smile on his face and he reddens. 

He’s taken aback by how much he _cares_. He cares so much it scares him. When—how the _fuck_ did he come to need so much of Naruto? Was it always there? 

Naruto’s the first real friend, and now he’s also the only one he’s ever wanted… romantically. 

Fuck he doesn’t even know what that _means_. 

He’s not ready for this, but the thought of _trying_ and getting rejected is even worse. What if it destroys everything they’ve built? What if Naruto doesn’t know how to act around him anymore? What if Sasuke can’t continue being his friend? Their entire dynamic is at risk here and he’s not so sure it’s really worth it. 

Last night Naruto’s heat, his body next to him felt like a massive weight on his chest. He couldn’t rest—a problem that wasn’t there before, not unless Naruto decided to turn him into a body-pillow and suffocate him in his sleep. He just couldn’t stop thinking about the idiot next to him. It was as exhausting as it was exhilarating. 

A part of him wants to jump in, both feet in, and let himself free-fall. But that’s not who he is, the bigger part, the more rational and logical part is telling him that he’s being ridiculous. That there’s no way this will turn out well. 

At most? His friendship with Naruto will still be there, but it won’t be as intimate, he’s sure. Either because Naruto’s going to be awkward about rejecting him, or Sasuke’s going to have to nurse his pride for a long time and he simply won’t have the capacity to be Naruto’s friend. 

Not in the same way. 

He thinks about how affectionate Naruto is with him and he didn’t know how much he didn’t want to lose that until now. He thought it mostly annoyed him, or distracted him, like Naruto was a needy, loud cat you can’t help but indulge. But no, that’s not how he feels about it. With the threat of it stopping, Sasuke’s realized how much he’s come to crave Naruto’s affections, even if they aren’t reserved for him only. 

He’s not willing to risk how his relationship with Naruto makes him feel for the sake of being greedy and wanting—needing _more_. 

Sasuke shakes himself out of the stupor and decides to go take inventory even though that’s mostly Naruto’s job. It’s time-consuming work and he needs the distraction right now. 

 

It’s towards the end of his shift that Naruto shows up, nearly twenty minutes too early for his own shift. 

When he sees Sasuke, he makes a beeline for him, the tiny wrinkle in his forehead disappearing 

“Why the hell did you run out on me this morning?” he asks in a breath and doesn’t stop to let him reply. “You had me really fucking worried man. Did something happen?” 

Sasuke swallows, he can feel his cheeks heating up and he has no idea if it’s obvious to everyone else but he feels the urge to fucking _hide_. 

“No. I told you I just had to leave.” he manages to say, voice even and loyal to his commands to _not fucking panic_. 

Naruto doesn’t buy it, he moves around the counter to place a warm hand on Sasuke’s forearm. 

Sasuke immediately jerks away, he doesn’t miss the definite hurt expression on Naruto’s face, he looks like a rejected puppy. 

“Don’t fucking touch me.” Sasuke hisses angrily, he doesn’t mean to sound so…mean. He really doesn’t. It’s a reactionary thing. 

He just feels so defensive and so exposed and he’s so damn terrified that Naruto will somehow pick up on his feelings if he spends enough time around him. 

“What the fuck, Sasuke?” Naruto’s hurt doesn't last long. The anger surfacing instead and coming off in steady waves, his hand turning into a fist as he drops it to his side. 

“Guys, maybe take this to the back?” Sakura interjects hesitantly, probably worried about how they’re starting to come off in a work setting. 

They both don’t reply but Naruto moves to the stock room anyway and gives Sasuke an expectant look. 

Sasuke is stubbornly frozen in his spot until Sakura nudges him with her elbow. 

“Go talk to him,” she whispers. 

He doesn’t want to. He’s not ready, he needs _time_. He can’t have a rational conversation right now, Naruto is rightfully angry at the way he’s behaving and he’s going to need time to be normal around him again. 

He _can’t talk to him._

Another nudge has him moving his feet anyway though, dread coiling in his stomach and building steadily throughout his body. What the fuck is he supposed to say to Naruto? Sorry, I’m being a dick because I like you? They’re not _six_. He _knows_ his behavior is inexcusable—it’s why he’s avoiding Naruto in the first place! 

He walks into the stock room and finds Naruto waiting for him, body leaning against the wall next to the door. 

Sasuke closes the door behind him and just stands there. Naruto stares at him for a few moments, brows furrowed in confusion like Sasuke’s a pretty difficult puzzle to solve. 

His blue eyes look him over once, assessing, finding nothing physically wrong, the blond sighs and pushes off the wall to walk the two steps needed to close the distance between them.

Sasuke resolutely fights the urge to take a step back and maintain a distance. His feet shift stubbornly and Naruto notices but doesn’t comment. He just sighs again, hand going to the back of his neck habitually. 

“I’ll ask you again. What’s going on with you? Is it about what you told me last night?” Naruto’s voice is gentle, controlled. He’s trying to understand him, Sasuke can tell. He’s trying to give him space to calmly explain his behavior, but Sasuke doesn’t _have_ one that won’t expose him. 

So he nods. Naruto silently prompts him to continue and when he’s all clamped shut, the hand at Naruto’s neck goes to rub at his temples. 

“Are you just not going to talk at all? Really?” 

“I’m not doing this.” Sasuke confirms, jaw clenching with the effort to hold himself back. He forces his eyes on Naruto and wills himself to get a fucking grip. His defenses solidifying against Naruto’s prying eyes. 

Naruto’s not satisfied with his answer, it’s clear in the way he takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. 

Sasuke may be prone to pulling away emotionally, but Naruto’s prone to angry bursts at times and Sasuke knows him enough to know that he’s probably counting backwards from ten right now before he offers Sasuke a reply. 

Another breath out, Naruto speaks, eyes imploring, searching. “Is it me…?” 

And that—That takes Sasuke off guard momentarily. He’s surprised at the vulnerability in Naruto’s voice at the question, the guy’s not even looking at him anymore. His eyes downcast and mouth pressed into a tight line, shoulders tense. 

Sasuke realizes Naruto already believes it does have something to do with him and that makes Sasuke’s already racing heart beat faster. Naruto’s subconscious has _already_ picked up on it. 

It’s barely been over a _day_.

Sasuke feels like he’d been stripped bare _._ Like if he stood here for one more minute, seeing Naruto look so damn broken up over it, everything’s going to come spilling out like a dam. Or maybe Naruto’s going to put things together and figure him out and then— _then what?_

 

He’s going to lose his best friend. 

 

“…Naruto.” Sasuke _hates_ that he sounds like he’s pleading, it’s fucking pathetic. He swallows another lump forming in his throat. 

“I just can’t do this right now.” he finally tells him, he tries to turn but Naruto’s fingers are wrapping around his wrist, effectively stopping him. 

“A-are we still on for tonight?” Naruto asks, desperate. Scared. He usually comes by after his shifts and the fact that he’s asking right now means he knows something’s up. The desperation brings Sasuke little comfort, and he wishes he could do something about it but—

“No.” 

Sasuke twists his wrist free, doesn’t explain anything and leaves the stock room, he grabs his jacket and storms out of the store even though his shift still isn’t technically over and he knows he should clock out but he can’t go back right now. He can’t look at Naruto. 

He half expects Naruto to chase after him, but he doesn’t, and there’s a burn right in the middle of his abdomen when he realizes that, he feels it traveling up into his throat and he thinks he’s going to choke on it. 

Sasuke goes home and buries himself under the covers for the remainder of the day. He falls asleep at some point and wakes up in the middle of the night with a pounding headache. 

He reaches for his phone and finds a few messages from Sakura and Ino. Ino’s prying, which means Sakura hasn’t said anything about what went down at the shop, and he’s mildly surprised Sakura kept her mouth shut. 

He ignores Ino’s message. 

He flicks down to Sakura’s multiple messages, half-expecting her to admonish him but he’s again surprised when it’s just supportive. His heart clenches when she mentions Naruto. 

She says he’d been moody and grumpy and down the entire day, he refused to tell her what happened which is unusual between them. 

_I don’t know what happened between you guys, but I can make my own conclusions and I just need you to know that you can take your time, but Naruto’s not going to wait forever. He’s going to run out of patience if you keep pushing him away. Don’t push him away Sasuke. He cares for you._

Sasuke scowls at the message, he damn well knows Naruto cares for him. It’s why this is so fucking hard. There’s a veiled threat there. He’s not an idiot, no one wants to put up with someone who doesn’t have his shit figured out. Not even Naruto. 

Sasuke’s about to turn off his phone when he sees a new message pop up with an obnoxious notification, it’s from Naruto. 

_Call me wn u see this._ It reads. Nothing else. It has a pleading tone to it, or maybe Sasuke wants it to have a pleading tone and it’s more of a command but he doesn’t care. Either way—no. He’s not ready. 

He turns off his phone and buries himself under the covers again and doesn’t sleep for the rest of the night. 

His mind busy coming up with scenario after scenario of just exactly how this will all eventually blow up in his face and he’s going to lose Naruto no matter what he chooses to do. 

If he confesses, Naruto isn’t the type to ruin a friendship over it sure, but things will definitely change, maybe he’ll stop being as intimate? Maybe he’ll be overly conscious of Sasuke’s feelings and will stop being himself around Sasuke because he’s kind enough to refuse to lead him on. 

If Sasuke can somehow manage to wait this out, to avoid Naruto and let his feelings fade, then he can come back on his own terms without the fear of rejection. 

But who’s to say Naruto is going to wait? Sakura seems to think he won’t. Sasuke hates to admit it, but she probably knows Naruto better than he does. 

Why _would_ he wait? Why would _anyone_? 

Hell, if the situation were reversed Sasuke’s pretty sure he’d have tried maybe _once_ to understand why Naruto’s avoiding him before his pride would take over and he’d cut him off, close the door on him before he’d have a chance to close it on Sasuke. 

Sasuke doesn’t have the tolerance or the patience to give a shit about someone so clearly unwilling to be around him. 

Why would anyone chase after someone who doesn’t wanna be chased? 

It’s downright degrading. 

Besides, Sasuke doesn’t do this. He’s never been in a serious relationship, he doesn’t know how to be a good boyfriend or what that even means. If by some miracle Naruto gives him a shot, be it out of pity or otherwise, Sasuke will undoubtedly fuck it up. And he knows he’ll fuck it up more than once. 

Having Naruto only to end up losing him will be a lot worse than never having him at all. 

He’s going to lose him. Either way, he’ll lose Naruto. 

 

__________________

 

When he wakes up, Sasuke finds out he’s slept over fourteen hours. Fuck, he missed his morning shift. He checks his phone and finds a few missed calls and messages from Sakura and—nothing from Naruto. 

He doesn’t know if he feels relief or panic at that, it’s a weird mixture of both. 

He shoots Sakura a quick apology for forcing her to work the morning shift on her own, she doesn’t reply immediately so he thumbs through the messages. He can see exactly when Sakura’s initial concern bled into aggravation, it was right around message number eleven. 

_If you don’t fucking turn on your phone Uchiha, so help me I will fucking scalp your hair off your head! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!_

He hesitates then sends her another message. 

_Did you tell Naruto I missed work? Did he show up this morning?_

The reply comes almost ten minutes later. 

_It’s fine, next time just warn a girl will ya?_

_And no. I didn’t say anything. He didn’t come by either._

Sasuke breathes a sigh of relief, he doesn’t want to give Naruto any excuses to show up or call him. He will eventually find out obviously, but not any time soon as long as Sakura keeps her mouth shut. 

He’s about to shoot her another message when he gets a call from her. He answers immediately. 

_“I ought to punch you for being such a dick!”_ comes the screeching hiss on the other line. 

Sasuke rolls his eyes. “It wasn’t on purpose,”

_“I know! That’s why I was so worried.”_ She pauses, and Sasuke softens at the concern still in her voice even if it was masked by irritation. 

“I don’t plan to do it again if you’re wondering…” he tells her. Holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he gets up to go this closet and pull on some pants. 

_“What happened yesterday?”_

Sasuke stops at the sink. He thinks about telling her for a moment but decides not to. He’s come to consider Sakura a friend of sorts yes, but he isn’t comfortable telling her anything. Not yet at least, and he doesn’t want her to feel the need to meddle. 

“Nothing. Can we trade shifts? I’ll take all the ones you have with Ino for the next couple of days.” 

_“Oh…yeah but—wait! Sasuke! Why?”_

He promptly hangs up. 

He shoots Ino a quick message updating her about the trade. She replies almost immediately (Sasuke’s not surprised, that girl is glued to her phone). 

_I don’t mind but why?_ comes her message. 

Sasuke types back: _Nothing to worry about. Thanks._

Relief floods him at knowing that at least for a couple of more days before he takes his break from work, he can avoid Naruto. 

That should give him some time to simmer down and stop obsessing over his newly discovered feelings so much. 

His phone pings again with a message from Ino. He looks down, she’s reminding him about their get together in a couple of days. Oh—fuck. 

Sasuke groans. 

Shit, he forgot he promised to show up at her stupid not-party. He still has to buy the girls’ gifts, he'd already bought Naruto's. 

Maybe he can just leave them on her doorstep or something and put up with her screaming later? 

Or maybe he can show up early and leave before Naruto shows up, that way he won’t have to listen to her yell at him for the next forever. 

_______________________

 

Sasuke’s shift with Ino today goes smoothly. Ino doesn’t bug him too much and is mostly on her phone, no doubt texting Sakura or scrolling through social media. Normally, that’d irritate him, but today he’s a little preoccupied thinking about how he’s supposed to face Naruto from now on. 

He’s stuck between a rock and a hard place but he thinks he’s made the right decision (mostly), considering everything. 

Sasuke exhales long and drawn out. Work’s an absolute nightmare without Naruto. He never realized how different it was working with Naruto. It’s been weeks since he’s had to work a full shift with someone else and he got used to the idiot. 

If said idiot’s not annoying Sasuke with memes, he’s challenging him to see who can drink the most coffee (Sasuke isn’t stupid enough to engage. _Moron, you can go ahead and give yourself palpitations, I don’t give a crap_.) He’s also oddly flirty at the most inopportune moments, gets off on watching Sasuke glower at giggling teenage girls, likes to buy Sasuke the same cookies almost every day and claims he’s going to make him love them one day, then ends up eating the dozen or so cookies all on his own. 

Half the time, Sasuke’s most consistent thought is: _This guy is the biggest idiot I’ve ever met._ But he never realized just how big of an impact Naruto has had on his life thus far. 

Sasuke rubs his forehead and tries to unclench, he’d been doing that a lot the past couple of days. He tells Ino he’s going to the bathroom and she waves him off with a pop of her gum. 

They’ve only got around thirty minutes before Naruto shows up for his evening shift, though he does recall Ino mentioning opting to stay and catch up on some missed work hours. Yeah, no. He’s going home. 

Naruto hasn’t texted him again since yesterday and Sasuke’s as grateful as he is anxious about it. He tries not to think about it as he walks towards the nearest bathrooms, which doesn’t work because every free moment he has to himself, Sasuke’s mind wanders back to Naruto. 

Frankly, it’s getting a little alarming, especially since that’s not exactly new for him…it’s just that the nature of those thoughts have changed. 

He’s about to make a right into the men’s bathroom when he spots the same head of wild blond hair he’d been actively trying _not_ to see or think about and—Sasuke’s not proud of the noise he makes. 

It’s a cross between a squeak and a choked up _shit_ and for a moment he’s frozen in his shock at seeing Naruto heading straight his way, but he’s not looking at him. He must be going to the bathrooms too—shit, shit, shit—fuck! 

Heart jumping to his throat, Sasuke’s feet move before he can think about it and the next thing he knows he’s dodging to the left side, pushing open a door and slamming it closed behind him, back resting against it. Half expecting Naruto to come right after him. His chest is heaving big breaths as he lifts a hand to drag down his face with a muffled groan. 

“…Um, excuse me? This is the women’s section…” the feminine voice startles Sasuke and he peeks from behind his fingers to look at the mousy girl standing frozen at a sink, hands hovering under open water. 

Upon realizing exactly where his body decided to take him, Sasuke’s entire body flushes red in mortification. Christ, his life is a piece of shit smothered in garbage. 

Someone flushes their toilet and walks out of a stall, heels clicking loudly as the woman walks to the sink to wash her hands, she pauses upon seeing Sasuke looking very much like a deer in the headlights, she quirks a manicured eyebrow. 

“Honey…you do realize you’re in the wrong bathroom?” She has a hand on a cocked hip now and looks mildly miffed at his presence. She gives him a once-over then smiles broadly. 

“You’re hot though, so I can forgive the slip-up.” the woman makes air-quotes around the words slip-up and Sasuke—yeah, nope. He’s out in zero-point-five seconds. 

Jesus fucking—Women were scary. What the shit? That was probably the weirdest come-on he’d ever had the displeasure of going through. She definitely assumed he’s a pervert and yet was openly flirting—

Suddenly, he’s really really glad he’s gay. Kind of a jerk thought to have, but Sasuke’s experiences with women have ranged from mildly annoying to downright terrifying. 

Remembering Naruto’s probably still in the bathroom, Sasuke bolts back to the shop and double checks for blond heads (besides Ino’s), seeing none he grabs his jacket and keys, clocks out in seconds and leaves in under two minutes with barely a goodbye to Ino’s squawking protests. 

No way is he sticking around with Naruto here. He’s determined to avoid him until he figures his shit out. 

Sasuke goes home without any texts or calls bugging him. 

 

______________________

 

When the next day comes, it’s the day before the party, and the final day of work for Sasuke. 

Sasuke’s last shift with Ino is quiet. Truthfully, it has him a little on edge, like an itch he can’t quite scratch and he’s not sure if it’s because he anticipates Naruto showing up randomly to bug him again, or because he expects Ino to harass him about it. He’s now sure she knows something’s up because she keeps sending him half-curious, half-concerned looks, the fact that she hasn’t asked yet means she has _some_ idea of who it involves, or what it’s about. 

Perhaps Sakura already told her then threatened her with violence if she tried bugging him about it. 

Not like he’ll talk about it even if she did ask him. He appreciates her silence, but the looks are getting annoying. 

Sasuke inhales then turns to Ino, “Stop it.” he demands. 

She startles for a second, then she starts fiddling with the register. 

“What? I didn’t do anything” 

“Yes, you are. Stop looking at me like I’m about to break, I’m fine.” 

Ino scoffs, her eyes widening at her own reaction, like she hadn’t quite meant to do that. She clears her throat as she crosses her arms, “Look, I’m not going to ask. But if you need to talk about it I’m willing to listen. I promise I won’t gossip about it either.” She gives him a lighthearted wink, which actually makes Sasuke roll his eyes but he’s smiling as he does it. 

“I’m fine.” he insists. 

Ino shrugs, “Suit yourself, Sugar. Don’t sulk for too long.” 

Sasuke scowls at the affectionate nickname—she’s always doing that. He doesn’t reply though. Instead, he takes a quick glance at the time on his phone; one hour till Naruto and Sakura’s shift. 

“Listen, you good for the next hour?” 

Ino raises an eyebrow, “Sure. You already took your break though…” 

“I need to do a little last minute shopping for tomorrow.” 

Ino brightens at that, undoubtedly thinking about the gift she’ll likely receive. 

“I’ll be fine, but I mean, you could always go after work. Why no—oh.” she cuts off, probably realizing why Sasuke doesn’t want to stick around after work in the mall. 

He’s trying to avoid Naruto. He really doesn’t want to risk having the idiot try and corner him again while they’re both here. Best to get his shit done and leave before he and Sakura get here. 

“Thanks.” He says simply. 

She nods mutely and he pops into the back to grab his jacket. 

He fucking hates shopping, and he’s never had to do it for a female besides his own Mother so he’s not exactly sure what to look for. When he comes back out Ino grins at him. 

“I’m about to make your life so much easier. So listen carefully,” she grins at him as he raises an eyebrow. “Sakura wants jewelry but she won’t admit it. Anything is fine. I want the new Huda Beauty eyeshadow palette. I’ll send you a pic of which one.” She winks again and pats his shoulder blade. 

“Oh…good. Thanks.” Sasuke’s a little thrown, but he does greatly appreciate the tip, it’s extremely helpful. 

“I’d rather get exactly what I want than pretend I like whatever terrible gift I might get. No offense.” she shrugs. 

Sasuke shakes his head, “None taken. You’d probably be right anyway.” 

“Yup! Now get outta here.” 

Sasuke walks out with a small wave. He heads for the Jewelry shop he always caught the girls ogling on their way to work, ready to get the gift buying out of the way. 

 

__________________

 

A little over an hour later, Sasuke’s finally got Sakura’s gift all wrapped neatly and tucked in a small bag. It took him some time to pick out something for Sakura, there were so many options that he felt a little overwhelmed and had stood there for twenty minutes wondering why he ever decided to work retail and befriend Naruto and his friends by association. 

Eventually, the assistant took pity on him and asked him if he’d like her to pick something out for his girlfriend. To which he’d made a face and clarified he’s picking something for a friend. 

She’d brightened at that, and Sasuke’s familiar with that reaction. It usually meant girls thought he’s available and got excited at the prospect of potentially getting his number. 

Even his vile glower doesn’t deter them and they just push through. 

She helps him pick something out and he walks out of the store with the clerk’s number on a card slipped subtly into his bag. Sasuke tosses it the moment he walks by a garbage bin. 

His phone pings with a message from Ino probably, she must’ve sent him the picture. He doesn’t check it and heads to the nearest Sephora to get Ino her gift. 

Damn is he grateful she made this process so much easier for him. 

It’s not until he’s inside the massive make-up store, waiting for them to wrap the palette thing ten minutes after walking in, that he registers his phone’s incessant pinging, making him frown as he fishes it out of his pocket. He absently thanks the girl who wrapped the gift for him as he makes his way out. 

He’s about to thumb his phone open when a hand falls on his shoulder and he turns to bite the owner’s head off for touching him without his consent but—it’s Naruto. With a really perturbed expression on his face. 

He gives Sasuke a small smile as his hand falls from his shoulder. 

“Hey…” he says. Uncertainty written all over him, feet shuffling and fists shoved into his hoodie’s pockets. 

Sasuke’s still frozen in place, _what the fuck is he—_ “— doing here?” 

Naruto clears his throat, “Looking for you actually. Wanted to catch you before you went home and Ino said you might be here…” 

Ah, that must be why his phone had been pinging non-stop. Ino must’ve been trying to warn him. Naruto’s brows knit as he eyes Sasuke, waiting for him to talk. 

Sasuke forces himself to speak, “I’m getting the girls’ gifts.” he tries to sidestep Naruto, but Naruto moves with him, blocking his way. 

“Come on asshole, you know we need to talk. You can’t avoid me forever.” 

Sasuke scowls, “I’ll talk when I feel like it, dumbass. Now move.” 

Naruto’s hesitance disappears in that moment and he plants his feet firmly in front of Sasuke. His eyes shining with determination. 

“You switched all your shifts with Sakura, you still haven’t replied to my text. You’re actively dodging my calls and I’m fucking sick of it, Uchiha. What the fuck is going on?” 

He doesn’t remember rejecting any calls from him, Naruto must’ve called when his phone was turned off. Sasuke rolls his eyes, irritation mounting. 

“I’ll do what I damn well please, Uzumaki. You don’t have to know every detail about my life.” This time he successfully sidesteps Naruto and moves to walk out of the store. Vaguely noting that a couple of women had been staring at them. 

Naruto chases after him, falling into step beside him as Sasuke makes his way to his parking space. 

“Maybe not, but I don’t deserve you ghosting my ass!” 

Sasuke scoffs, “I’m not ghosting you, don’t be so dramatic.” 

Sasuke walks faster, ready to fucking _escape_ but Naruto’s now skipping next to him. 

“Drama—Jesus you’re a piece of work you know that?” 

Sasuke ignores him, focusing on just moving faster without actually bolting like a frightened baby chick.  
“Oh my God! Will you just look at me?!” Naruto nearly yells at him. Making several shoppers pause and stare at them.

Sasuke whirls to a stop, turns with an abruptness that startles Naruto into stopping as well, and fixes him with a look that screams murder. 

“Christ, Naruto—What do you want from me?” Sasuke snarls. Naruto isn’t fazed, in fact, he’s scowling right back as he gets in Sasuke’s space and Sasuke desperately holds his ground. He’s not going to fucking back down. Not right now. 

“I want you to stop being a little bitch and tell me what’s up with you! I’m tired of worrying about your ungrateful ass!” 

“I didn’t ask you to! I asked you to leave me alone.” 

Naruto gives a hollow laugh, “I wish I could! You think I want to do this? I can’t just leave you alone when I know you’re fucking hurting! I can see it you asshole!” 

Sasuke grits his teeth, he’s not hurting, he’s not—he’s not. He doesn’t want to hear about how much Naruto cares for him right now, so can’t help the next thing that comes out of his mouth 

“Why the _fuck_ do you care.” It’s not a question. It’s more of a mocking, passive-aggressive statement. Some cruel part of him wants to dig for the answer he’s hoping for, but he knows he won’t get it. 

“Because you’re my best friend…” Naruto says, voice low, but Sasuke hears it loud and clear in his head like a goddamn fuckin’ gong. 

Guess he has his answer. 

Sasuke whips back around and starts walking away from Naruto. 

“Whatever. Just leave me alone.” 

Naruto does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke was not co-operating with me this chapter. I know he's pretty jumpy and dramatic and shit in this chapter, but give him a break. He's an awkward turtle and he doesn't even know it.  
> I hope you liked reading through this chapter even though it's so full of cringe and like-Sasuke just get over it already yeesh! I needed to focus on his internal struggles for a bit though.  
> I'll post the next one in a few days (hopefully) most of it's written out and I wanted this to be originally one chapter but it was getting too huge (almost 17k total? Maybe more? I stopped counting)  
> Kudos to you if you got through this in one sitting.  
> See you next time. Don't forget to comment :D


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm late! Last chapter folks. Also unedited because it's over 12k words and I don't have the TIME D:

Sasuke grips the steering wheel of his car, his knuckles going white. 

He was about to go inside the girls’ apartment, undoubtedly about to see the blond he’d tried so hard to avoid (and failed spectacularly). 

Sasuke’s going to walk in and he’s going to see Naruto probably laughing at something one of his friends said, then he’s going to see Sasuke and that smile will die a swift death, a rightfully angry glare replacing it. He wouldn’t put it past Naruto to march right over and either punch the daylights out of him or maybe drag him off somewhere more private so he can punch more of the daylights out of Sasuke without a single soul to stop him. 

He might be a tad overdramatic here…

Sasuke swallows, he knew he was bound to confront Naruto (or more accurately Naruto will finally corner him at some point and force words out of him), but he’d been hoping it’d be weeks from now, not a couple of days.

Not when Sasuke still feels like his entire world is tilting off its axis. His stomach thinks it’s in a Tilt-a-Whirl and it’s making its objections in loud growls and annoying twists. He thinks he should try puking before going inside, it might help settle his damn stomach. 

Sasuke shakes his head. 

_Fucking get a grip you pathetic piece of shit._

He mentally grabs hold of that self-loathing with an iron grip, he lets it wash over him and—isn’t that ironic? It actually helps him let go of any fucks he has left to give—for now. 

He pushes open his car door, grabs the bags of gifts and sulks all the way to Sakura and Ino’s door. Maybe if he’s really fucking lucky, Naruto’ll be so fucking angry he’ll ignore him the same way he made it his damn mission to erase Sasuke from existence that first month at work. 

Sasuke climbs the stairs two steps at a time, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. It’s fine, he’ll give the girls their gifts, linger for about ten minutes, and then he’ll bolt. 

Sasuke doesn’t even get to the third knock before the door opens and a cheerful Ino greets him with a too-affectionate hug. 

“Sasuke! You made it—oooh, are those mine?!” she makes grabby hands for the bags, Sasuke hands two over, keeping the last one. 

“The purple bag is yours. Red’s Sakura’s.” 

Ino eyes the third bag, her face carefully neutral, “Is the orange one for—” 

“Naruto’s,” Sasuke cuts her off, fingering the top of the orange bag. 

“I can give it to him if you like…” Ino’s being considerate, he knows. He appreciates it, but he’s not so sure he wants to be _that_ much of a coward. So he shakes his head, slow. Ino gives him a few seconds to change his mind, but when she sees the stubborn furrow of his brows she smiles and drags him inside her apartment. 

Sasuke takes a moment to toe his shoes off. Ino’s talking as he does so, “He’s not here yet anyway so you can chill—Sakura! Sasuke’s here!” 

They hear an answering muffled yell of jumbled words coming from (what he assumes is) Sakura’s room. 

“Bitch, shut up! You think I’m stupid or something?!” Ino shoots back at the unintelligible muffle. Apparently, she has no trouble understanding whatever it was Sakura shouted from behind her closed door. 

Sasuke raises a brow at the exchange but otherwise ignores it completely.

“I’m not staying long,” he tells her, tone absolute. 

Ino whirls and shoots him an affronted look, pale blue eyes darkening. She opens her mouth, no doubt about to rip him a new one, but Sasuke shoves his hands in his pockets and turns his back, heading back to the front door. 

“Or I can just leave right now.” 

There’s no fucking way either of these girls will rope him into spending a minute longer than he intends to. 

Ino flails for a second before her fingers wrap tightly around his bicep, stopping him. 

“Okay! Fine—I accept! Just go sit your ass down. Neji and Shikamaru are smoking in the balcony if you wanna join ‘em.” 

Sasuke’s not a smoker, and he’s not sure what a Shikamaru is exactly, but he figures it’s better than sitting alone like a loser because the only two people he’s familiar with are busy. Sakura still hasn’t emerged and Ino is still setting up God knows what for God knows how many people. Sasuke's never actually asked. 

“Make yourself at home, beers in the fridge. Oh, but Kiba and Naruto are bringing more drinks later.” Ino says as she moves past him, hands waving haphazardly at the general kitchen area. 

He makes a detour and grabs a beer from her fridge, scowling when he sees it’s light beer. 

“Who the fuck drinks light beer?” he grumbles under his breath, but takes it anyway. He doesn’t have much of a choice and he still needs a bit of something to ease his nerves. Even if it comes in the form of shitty beer.

He heads to the balcony and nods his hello to Neji. Sasuke’s eyes flick to the guy standing next to him, who looks like he wants to be anywhere but here. He’s dressed in sweatpants, like he plans to sleep at any given moment. The guy takes a slow drag of his cigarette, blowing it out even slower. He nods in leu of a greeting too. 

“Shikamaru,” even his voice has a lazy drawl to it. 

“Sasuke,” he replies, elbows coming to rest atop the railing next to Shikamaru, who’s in a similar position. Sasuke fingers the neck of his bottle and lets it dangle between his fingers. 

“So you’re the Uchiha?” 

Sasuke stiffens, his eyes narrowing, not looking at Shikamaru as he shrugs in confirmation. Despite Shikamaru’s question, the tone behind it does come off disinterested to Sasuke. So he relaxes minutely. 

“So you’re the ‘bastard’ Naruto ranted about for weeks a few months back,” Shikamaru chuckles, taking another drag. Neji’s head tilts in curiosity but is otherwise silent throughout the exchange. 

Sasuke snorts, “That’d be me.” 

“You owe me about three-hundred hours worth of sleep.” 

Sasuke turns his head to regard this guy with a questioning lift of his eyebrow. 

Another drag, puff, flick. “He literally woke me up to complain about you for weeks.” 

Sasuke suppresses the amused smile, Naruto was that bothered? He certainly made it seem like he didn’t give much of a shit and was mainly steering clear of Sasuke. This…makes him feel slightly better about being ignored back then (not that he didn’t deserve it). Clearly, Naruto had cared more than he’d let on. 

“I didn’t realize my shitty behavior affected him that much.” Sasuke tips the bottle into his lips. He wasn’t afraid to admit he’d been a complete shit to Naruto back then, hell—that was Sasuke pretty much all the time before befriending Naruto anyway—that’s him pretty much with anyone _besides_ Naruto still. 

“Naruto thrives on attracting assholes—no offense— and making a friend out of them. It’s exhausting.” 

Sasuke shrugs, “It’s not offensive if it’s true.” 

Neji’s low chuckle cuts through their conversation, “Why am I not surprised,” he shares an amused look with Shikamaru. 

“What do you mean?” Sasuke asks, bottle swaying in his fingers. 

Neji eyes him, smirk settling comfortably on his lips. 

“Assholes make up roughly ninety percent of Naruto’s closest male friends, I think Kiba and Shikamaru are the only exceptions.” 

Shikamaru chuckles, “Kiba’s still an asshole fifty percent of the time.” 

Neji murmurs an agreement, “And you’re too lazy to be one.” he adds to which Shikamaru only shrugs. 

Sasuke blinks, maybe he _should_ be offended, but honestly it made sense. 

He hums, a small smirk quirking his lips. He swallows another gulp of terrible beer before he speaks, “How’d you meet him?” 

Shikamaru shrugs, “Ino introduced us.” he says as he takes another drag. 

Neji eyes him for a moment, “I met him in one of my art electives,” he pauses, considering, but then adds, “he was the nude model for my art class.” 

Sasuke’s beer goes down his windpipe. He chokes and coughs twice, grimacing at the burn then turns his incredulous, burning eyes to Neji. 

“What?” he wheezes. 

Shikamaru’s silent laughter shakes his shoulders, “Relax, he’s kidding.” 

Sasuke’s stare slowly pulls down into a glare. Okay, what the fuck? Neji didn’t _look_ like he was joking, but maybe he’s bad at jokes? Itachi’s kinda like that too. He delivers everything in a deadpan and it’s hard to know when he’s telling a joke. 

Neji smirks back, waving a dismissive hand, “I only lied about the nude part.” 

Sasuke’s glare intensifies, but he doesn’t get a chance to say anything because Sakura’s sliding the balcony door open, poking her head in with a bright smile directed at Sasuke. 

“Sasuke! Thank you for the gift, I love it.” She says sincerely, fingers playing with her earrings. He’d gotten her a pair of jade studs, they were a beautiful bright color and he thought they’d look nice on Sakura. His eyes take in the round studs in her earlobes and manages a small smile, he was right. The store’s clerk may have helped him, but it was ultimately his choice. 

“Are you supposed to open presents now?” he asks, walking towards her. She steps aside to allow him back into the apartment, moving to take the mostly empty bottle out of his hand. Sasuke lets her, watching as she moves to dump the small gulp in the sink then set the bottle in the recycling bin. 

“I mean…we weren’t planning on opening them together if that’s what you’re asking.” 

She then grabs a small black bag set on the kitchen counter and hands it to him, “It’s from me and Ino!” She gives him a smile. 

“Naruto’s on his way over by the way, if you’d like to duck out.” Sakura’s tone is ambiguous, he thinks it’s part disapproval, part understanding. Like she understands why he’d want to, but she’d also be quite disappointed if he did. 

“I’m…not sure I want to see him yet.” he confesses, voice low. 

Sakura tilts her head to the side, offers him an exasperated look and punches his shoulder. 

“You two are the biggest idiots I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m not going to tell you what to do—No, you know what? I am actually. Seriously Sasuke, just talk to the guy. Maybe not now obviously, but sometime soon?” 

Sasuke rolls his eyes, “I don’t plan to avoid him forever.” 

“Then what are you planning to do? Hope he ignores your dodgy attitude and pretend everything’s okay?” 

…Kinda? 

No, no. He knows he has to have some type of conversation with Naruto, he just wants it to be on his own terms, on his own time, preferably when his heart doesn’t climb into his throat every time he thinks about the moron. 

He doesn’t get to answer Sakura because her front door bursts open and in walks a boisterous, cackling Kiba (whom Sasuke met once, briefly, and instantly disliked—he can tolerate only one loud moron at a time) followed by an indignant Naruto. 

“You’re fucking gross! Why the hell would you ship Bowser and Mario?!” Naruto’s yelling. 

Kiba waves at them all and heads straight for the balcony, “Shut the fuck up. At least I don’t ship Optimus and Bumblebee!” Kiba throws back then promptly disappears into the balcony, door sliding shut behind him. 

“Kiba—that was—! You asshole—I was FOUR!” 

Sakura’s giggling makes the blond whirl around, “This is your fault Sakura. No one knew that but you!” 

She shrugs helplessly, “Hey, you know I can’t keep any secrets when I’m drunk.” 

Sasuke raises an eyebrow at that…that’s good to know. He’s got more reason to not trust Sakura with anything now. 

The sudden silence makes him realize that Naruto’s been staring at him, he lifts his gaze and tries not to look away at the semi-angry, but exasperated expression he has on his face. 

Sasuke’s not sure what he should say (and Sakura’s mysteriously disappeared in 0.2 seconds flat) so he blurts the first thing that comes to mind. 

“Robot sex, really?” 

It gets the job done, Naruto’s spluttering, face red and embarrassed. “No! No sex, Jesus— just…ugh! I am _not_ talking about this!” he points a finger at Sasuke matter-of-factly. Sasuke shakes his head, smile small and affectionate.

Shit, it’s only been a few days and he has _missed_ this idiot. A lot. It’s kinda embarrassing really. 

Naruto sobers up though, and he’s turning his head away. There’s still a bit of a self-conscious flush to his cheeks, but Sasuke thinks he’s mostly annoyed. He knows there’s a question coming, a question he still can’t fully answer and he braces himself. 

“Where’ve you been, Sasuke?” it’s quiet, the group’s loud laughter is muffled behind the balcony door and Sasuke feels a tiny bit jealous in that moment. He wishes he didn’t have to deal with…all this. 

He sighs, “Busy…” 

Naruto narrows his eyes at him, arms crossing. “You’re still not going to tell me what’s up?” 

Sasuke fingers Naruto’s bag in his hand again, he shakes his head. “Not today, Naruto.” 

Naruto closes the distance between them in two loud stomps, coming to a stop a foot away from Sasuke. He shoves at Sasuke’s shoulders,blue eyes a hurricane of fury. “Then when, huh?! When do you plan to fucking—”

Irritated at the roughness, Sasuke shoves back, deflecting Naruto’s arms easily. 

“When I’m ready! Okay? Just back the fuck off alright? Stop fucking annoying me all the time!” 

Naruto’s anger is simmering, Sasuke can feel its heat directed at him in Naruto’s gaze. He doesn’t want this, he doesn’t want to fight. He just needs Naruto to give him some space and stop being so goddamn _overwhelming_. 

Sasuke can see the hurt, it’s so damn clear in those normally bright blue eyes. The anger is still there, and he knows that’s what’s fueling Naruto to act. He stares at Sasuke for a couple of seconds, then he closes his eyes and exhales, shoulders sagging. The blond shakes his head, and moves away from Sasuke’s space. 

“You know what…? Fuck you, Uchiha. When the fuck are you gonna grow up and deal with your emotions like an actual human being? You know what, don’t answer that—I’m out.” 

Sasuke watches him turn his back and shove his hands in his pockets as he heads for the balcony to join the rest. He feels his chest constricting, he feels the need to stop Naruto from turning his back on him, but he’s also so fucking furious. How fucking _dare_ he? 

It’s not Sasuke’s fucking fault! He’d told Naruto several times that he’s not ready, that he’ll talk when he feels like it. The idiot kept insisting, finding every chance to basically _harass_ the information out of Sasuke and now he’s angry because—what? Sasuke told him to fuck off? What the fuck did he expect?

“Fuck you too.” He spits angrily at Naruto’s back. He watches him pause for a second but then he’s sliding the door open and close without so much as a look back. 

Sasuke stands there, heartbeat jacked to a hundred and fifty as he tries to calm himself down. His fists clench the gift bags in his hand, both his own and Naruto’s. He growls as he slams the stupid orange gift bag on top of the kitchen counter like it personally offended him and his entire family. He catches Sakura’s emerging form behind him before he turns to the door. Sasuke feels her hesitation when she tries to put a comforting hand on him but he moves to pull his shoes back on. 

“Sasuke…” she starts. Concern pursing her lips and brows. 

“I’m going home. I’m done.” he tells her as he opens her door and slams it closed on her sputtering protests. 

The drive home is a blur, his blood is still boiling under his skin but it’s cooled down some and Sasuke can feel the impending drain after the storm. 

He reaches his apartment and stumbles in through the door, not bothering to lock it. He throws his body face down on his bed, tired and weary. The tense muscles uncoiling slowly as he tries to forget that disaster of an encounter. He tires to ignore the bubbling anxiety that’s telling him that that was it. That’s the last time Naruto’s going to talk to him. 

This is exactly why he wanted to avoid Naruto in the first place. They were both volatile and stubborn individuals. Sure, he logically understood why Naruto kept prying, kept trying, but it didn’t make it any less annoying, or terrifying for Sasuke. Not when he clearly still had trouble being normal around Naruto. Guess it didn’t matter now anymore, he’s leaving tomorrow to spend the holidays at his family’s and Naruto’s probably going to be angry at him for a long time. He doesn’t know if he can even fix this anymore. 

Sasuke sighs, long and drawn out. He grimaces at the smell of beer on his lips but he can’t be bothered to go wash up. 

He just wanted to sleep. He must’ve been more exhausted than he felt because he drifts off in minutes. 

 

__________________

 

When he wakes up, it’s to banging on his front door. Sasuke groans and hides his head under his pillows. 

Whoever it is can fuck right the hell off. 

“Sasuke! You asshole!” 

The moment he registers it’s Naruto’s voice, Sasuke springs up in his bed. Hair a wild mess and eyes big as saucers. He grabs his phone out of his pocket and checks the time. 

It’s two in the morning. Why the fuck is Naruto here? 

“Hey! Okay, it’s none of your business—I’ll yell at this bastard if I want to!” 

Sasuke hears him again, this time probably yelling at Sasuke’s neighbor. Sasuke shuffles out of bed, contemplating whether or not he should lock his door and make sure the idiot stays out, or if he should drag him inside before one of his neighbors call the cops. 

He walks to the front door, still hearing muffled conversation then looks out the peephole. No sight of Naruto. Had he left already? His neighbor’s door is next to his so he can’t see them either. 

He was about to open the door when Naruto’s voice pipes up again, impossibly close and coming from a little lower than it should be. He must be sitting against the door. 

“Yeah, yeah I’ll keep it down—just go away and let me bare my soul in peace.” 

Bare his soul? What the fuck does that even mean? Sasuke doesn’t consider it for long, for he hears his neighbor’s door slam shut. Effectively drowning everything back in silence. 

Sasuke tenses, still unsure as to why Naruto’s here and why hasn’t he barged in yet? Does he think it’s locked? He has a key though…if he really wanted to, he could’ve invaded his apartment. 

“Sasuke…?” his voice comes out a meek, nervous little sound. 

Sasuke stills against the door, his forehead resting next to the peephole. He waits, unresponsive. 

Naruto chuckles, “I know you’re awake, bastard. You wake up when I make you your bitter-ass coffee every morning, even when I’m trying to be quiet.” 

Sasuke scoffs softly at that, noting the slur of Naruto’s words, he must be a little tipsy. Makes sense, sober Naruto would be too stubborn to be here after their last encounter. 

“I got your gift…I don’t know if you wanted to give it to me personally, but I wanted to let you know I got it…and…I love it. Thanks.” Naruto’s mumbling by the end of that sentence, making it harder for Sasuke to hear him. He slides his back against the door, mirroring Naruto’s current position. 

He drops his head quietly to rest against the door and considers what Naruto said, he’d gotten him a raw sapphire stone, it was carved into a pointed stone and made into a simple necklace. He hadn’t even thought much about it, he didn’t really know what to get him and he saw the necklace at some hippie jewelry store and thought it’d…fine it reminded him of Naruto’s stupid blue eyes. He bought it on a whim right then and there. 

He doesn’t say anything though. Neither does Naruto for a long time, but he eventually starts talking again though. 

“I’m sorry about what I said today…I didn’t mean it, or well, I meant it. But I—I get it, I think? I don’t know, I just don’t want you to push me away. I don’t—shit, Sasuke. If it’s something I did please tell me. I wanna know so I can fix it.” 

Naruto’s voice is wavering, there’s that quiver of unshed tears behind it and it makes Sasuke drop his head between his knees, fingers clenching into fists. 

“I don’t want to lose you.” Naruto continues, Sasuke can hear him sniffing as he shuffles against the door. 

Sasuke doesn’t know who speaks next, but it must be him because Naruto inhales a sharp breath at the response. 

“You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried, dumbass.” 

“…I knew you were awake, asshole.” Naruto’s laugh is soft and quiet. 

They’re both silent, Sasuke doesn’t know why he isn’t opening his door, and he doesn’t know why Naruto isn’t barging in either. 

A few minutes pass before Naruto’s sighing audibly and Sasuke can hear him stand up. 

“I’m not going to bother you anymore, but I’m not giving up, okay? I’ll just…wait, I guess. Come talk to me when you’re ready.” He pauses, seems to change his mind because he just says, “See ya, Sasuke.” 

And then he’s walking away. Every step he takes eases a bit of the tension off of Sasuke’s shoulders and simultaneously adds to his anxiety. He wants so badly to go out there and drag Naruto in his apartment and show him just how much he means to Sasuke. But the thought is terrifying, and he’s not nearly as impulsive as he should be. So instead, Sasuke sighs and lets his head fall against his door with a soft thump twice, and even though he has no idea how he’s going to deal with this, a bittersweet smile still makes its way to his face. 

Naruto may not be a saint, but he’s still way too good to Sasuke. Hell, he’s too good _for_ him. 

He spends a few minutes just sitting there before he decides to head back to his bed, he needs his sleep. He’s going to his family’s house tomorrow and his mom will give him that disapproving, disappointed, and worried look if he shows up with bags under his eyes. 

 

_____________________

 

The next day, Sasuke’s standing outside his family’s mansion, extremely late to his parent’s dinner and very much disheveled, his tie is crooked, his dress-pants are wrinkled— his mother’s definitely going to be horrified at his appearance. 

The look on his mother’s face when she opens the front door makes him offer a tiny, sheepish smile, not unlike the ones Naruto gives him when he devours everything in Sasuke’s fridge. His mother is normally a very mild and sweet woman, but when she got angry—she’d put the fear of God into the Uchiha family’s patriarch; Uchiha Madara himself. 

She has a hand on her hip, a spatula in her other hand, hair in a messy bun atop her head underneath a hairnet, and she’s wearing the ridiculous apron Sasuke ruined with Sharpies when he was three.

Despite the exasperated look on her face, she shakes her head with a sigh, frown melting off into glowing smile as she pulls him in to bury her face in chest, her small arms winding around his waist, the spatula’s end digging roughly into his back. 

But Sasuke doesn’t care, his own arms curl around his mother and he inhales deeply; his mother’s familiar floral but earthy scent, mixed with whatever she’d been cooking, invades his nostrils and it comfort him. Some of the tension he hadn’t known he was carrying since he’d woken up this morning leaves him and he tightens his grip on her. Although it’s still a relatively uncommon occurrence, his mother’s the only one in his family who openly shows her affections.

God, he _missed_ her. 

“You’re late, and why do you look like you walked through a hurricane?” comes the disapproving mumble against his chest. 

“Sorry.” he mumbles back into her covered hair. His mother steps back and pulls him inside, shutting the door behind them. 

“Dinner’s almost done, go sit at the table with your father and brother, I’ll be right out.” Her small hand is still in his own and she squeezes once before letting him go, waving with her spatula for him to get going. 

Sasuke nods as she walks up the stairs to probably change. Her scent leaving his side, making him instantly miss it. He hadn’t seen his family in months despite living just a short hour away. 

His family is small, but all members were always extremely busy. 

His mother is almost always hosting one social event after another, his father’s almost never home, let alone in the country what with being the CEO of a multi-million dollar company. His brother is next in line for his father’s position and is already the CFO at only twenty-six years of age. Sasuke himself is set to intern at the company next year, but his “training” had started since—shit, he can’t even remember. 

All he knows is that it’s been this way his entire life. However, in recent years they’d all been trying their best to make time for any family get togethers. Even his father, who normally prioritized the family business over all else seems happy enough to turn away all business calls and dedicate his full attention to their rare get-togethers. It wasn’t always this way though. It’d taken years for them to find a proper balance, with the help of a family therapist. 

He walks into the dining hall and finds his father sitting at the head of the table, newspaper hiding his entire top half with Itachi sitting next to him, eyes on his Kindle. They both look up when he steps inside, his father’s newspaper crinkles as he folds it. 

Sasuke offers a short bow to his father’s nod and he takes his seat next to Itachi. 

“Sasuke, my boy. You look well.” his Father comments, the deep signs of early aging prominent as he offers a subdued smile. 

Sasuke nods, “You as well, Father. How’s the company?” 

His father chuckles and nods towards Itachi, “Ask your brother, he’s refused to let me help him run the damn place.” 

Sasuke raises an eyebrow in surprise, “You’ve retired?” 

Itachi interjects, “Not officially. I have been doing his job for months now. Father refuses to retire until I prove myself fully capable,” Itachi pauses, shooting their Father a mildly offended look, “which I think is unnecessary at this point.” 

Their father doesn’t acknowledge the statement verbally and only offers Itachi an unapologetic, amused smirk. 

Sasuke chuckles, he knows Itachi is worried for their Father’s health and is trying to expedite the process so the man can finally rest. Father’s more than earned it, it was time for him to leave it to his boys. 

Sasuke may not have graduated yet, but he knows he’s also more than capable of helping his brother run the business. He’s spent most of his life training for it, they both have. 

“I’m with Itachi on this. I’m pretty sure you are too, father.” Sasuke says. 

Their father snorts but doesn’t deny it. 

They spend the next few minutes catching up. His Father’s planning to take their Mother on a vacation to Hawaii soon, while Itachi relays some company updates for Sasuke. His mother walks in shortly after, freshly showered and dressed in a flowy green silk dress, her hair made up into a neat bun, with simple pearl earrings decorating her small earlobes. Her face is bare of makeup except for the bright red lipstick. 

His father stands to greet his mother with a kiss on her jaw, right under her ear. “You look wonderful, Mikoto.” 

She giggles, but glows under the praise. “Oh, stop.” She takes a seat on his father’s right side, who takes her hand and places a gentle kiss on her fingers. 

Seeing his parents get along, seeing them still trying to please one another with the simplest gestures even after decades of marriage— it makes him undeniably happy, and he notes with a startle, also a little envious. 

He remembers growing up around a mostly cold Father and a preoccupied Mother. As a result, Sasuke grew up without much parental affection, his Father used to be a much more controlled and conservative man. He’d married his Mother young, and while Mikoto herself was a reserved woman, she was determined to melt the icy exterior around his Father’s heart. It didn’t work for most of the first half of their marriage, and it ended up affecting him and his brother. 

Sasuke remembers how upset his Mother would be with their Father, how lonely she was even when his Father was home. Looking back, Sasuke knew she was definitely taken for granted, and it wasn’t until his Mother threatened to leave his Father that things really started getting better. 

They’d gone to therapy for a couple of years, slowly working through their issues and they were better for it. Their family was better. Still more reserved than most, but infinitely better than when Sasuke was a teenager. Kakashi, their therapist was a patient and understanding man. It helped that he was also a genius in his own field. The man had gotten his first PhD at twenty-three, which, if nothing else, helped their Father respect the man’s credentials enough to take him and his advice seriously. 

All in all, his parents have definitely had their fair share of fights and screaming matches, his mother had cried herself to sleep many nights when Sasuke was young, while his father slept in one of their many guest bedrooms more often than not, but it never stopped them from trying, from gravitating back to one another, from growing together and changing for the better. 

Sasuke can’t even remember the last time his parents _really_ fought. 

So while they weren’t perfect, Sasuke still finds what they have treasurable. He thinks he wants that, wants an equal partner to stand by his side the way his parents have always stood by one another, unwavering in their faith and respect for each other. 

In that moment, his treacherous mind decides to slap him with an image of a certain dumb blond from work and Sasuke has to physically shake the embarrassing thought out of his mind. 

Jesus _Christ_. 

“Sasuke? You okay, sweetie?” his mother’s soft voice cuts through as Sasuke tries to swallow down his blush. 

“Yeah, fine…” he mumbles and he knows no one in the room believes him. Itachi has an eyebrow raised, his father’s giving him a blank, disbelieving look. While his mother’s concern is openly showing in her eyes. 

“I’m fine, Mother.” he repeats, this time with a dismissive roll of his eyes. 

She doesn’t press, but she does ask him something else. Something he’d rather not think about right now. 

“Tell me about work, you told me you got a new job, yes? How is it?” 

Sasuke forces himself to speak anyway, “Yeah, it’s okay. I’m working at a cosmetics store.” 

His father folds his fingers in front of his face, “Good job, son. It will teach you real life people-skills. It is how I first started out as well, those skills will serve you better in the future.” 

Even though he’s a grown adult, Sasuke still feels a sense of pride washing over him. He used to crave his Father’s praise as a child, when all his attention was directed at grooming Itachi more so than Sasuke, and even though that’s no longer the case (hasn’t been for years), it still leaves him feeling a sense of unrivaled accomplishment at any praise he gives him, like Sasuke can conquer the world. 

Sasuke does hold back a smirk at the uncharacteristic shudder his brother gives though. 

“Just be glad you’re not working at a clothing store.” Itachi says. 

“Have you made any friends?” his mother asks sweetly. Sasuke can tell she’s hopeful. She’d been blessed with extremely smart boys, but both were rather…lacking in the friends department throughout their childhood, hell even their adolescence. 

Itachi met his current friends through work, some were his business partners (Kisame, Pein, Konan), and some were his employees (Sasori, Kakuzu), while others were forced upon him by association (Deidara, Hidan). Before them, he hadn’t associated much with people beyond what was strictly necessary, and Sasuke was a lot like his brother in that respect (they take after their Father), so his Mother had developed a habit of worrying over her boys’ asocial nature throughout their childhood and was always invested in whatever acquaintances or classmates either boys happened to bring home for school projects. Always hoping they’d stick around, but that never happened. 

“Sasuke?” she asks again. 

Itachi nudges him and he coughs, hand going to rub at his neck, a habit he picked up from Naruto. 

“Uhh, yeah…I guess I have.” his voice comes out tempered, careful. 

His Mother’s hopeful look melts into a frown of confusion, “You don’t sound too sure,” 

Sasuke clears his throat, “No, no. I have. Two girls and one—one guy.” 

His mother gives him a delighted laugh as she claps her hands together. It’s a little embarrassing—he’s not a child anymore, but his Mother still acts like he’s her little boy sometimes. 

“Oh I’m so happy to hear that, honey. You should bring them over sometime!” 

Sasuke swallows and gives her a nod. Evidently, that satisfies her enough because she gets up and signals two of their housekeepers to bring in the food. They do so in rapid succession, placing platter after platter of a variety of generous foods. All the while Sasuke can feel Itachi’s silently calculating look burning into his neck and he knows in his gut that Itachi will question him about his hesitation. 

Nothing ever passes Itachi’s notice. He’s unfairly observant and incredibly analytical. A talent he was born with and honed throughout the years of his training. Plus, he was fucking nosy when it came to Sasuke. 

“We’ll talk after dinner.” Itachi whispers so only Sasuke could hear over the clattering of plates and utensils still being placed in front of them. 

Sasuke suppresses a groan. 

 

____________________

 

Sasuke finds himself in his brother’s room after dinner. Itachi’s still downstairs talking to his parents. He takes a look around and smiles when he sees nothing’s really changed, probably because Itachi hadn’t lived here since he’d turned eighteen. 

His parents—most likely his Mother—kept the room neat and clean. Itachi’s various college books littered the shelves encompassing the entire left wall of the room, some of them weren’t even related to his brother’s major (Who even reads medical books for fun?), while the shelves framing his brother’s desk were filled with classic literature books, from _Wuthering Heights_ to _Dracula_ and everything in between. There wasn’t a classic you couldn’t find on his brother’s shelves. 

Jesus what a nerd, no wonder he didn’t have friends. Sasuke chuckles, his room’s no better though. Both were indicative of just how much time the two brothers spent at home. 

Teenagers their age collected video-games and comics, they collected books. Though, Itachi’s collection far surpasses Sasuke’s own, mostly because whenever he wanted to read a new book, Itachi would loan it to him like a fucking library. 

The door to Itachi’s room opens and in walks his brother with two mugs of what Sasuke assumes to be steaming green tea. Sasuke steps up to take one out of his hands and sighs as the heat of the mug travels through his palms and settles deep into his bones. 

Itachi walks over to the desk and pulls his chair to sit, gesturing for Sasuke to do the same. Sasuke decides to sit on his brother’s bed, mug clutched carefully in both hands as he avoids Itachi’s calculating gaze. 

Itachi takes a sip of his own tea, “How’s work, little brother?” 

Sasuke lifts his gaze to give Itachi a blank look, “My answer hasn’t changed, it’s still fine…” 

“Anything you want to tell me that you couldn’t tell our parents?” 

Oh, here we go, Itachi’s probing is about as subtle as a meteor. At least when it comes to Sasuke’s personal business.

Sasuke rolls his eyes with a firm: “No, it’s been fine Itachi.” making his brother raise his eyebrows in amusement. 

“Just…fine?” 

Sasuke outright scowls now, “Yes, _fine_.” he grits the word through his teeth, Itachi’s amusement still present in the subtle lifting of the corner of his lips. 

“Hm, I see.” Itachi takes another sip, “Then tell me about your new friends.” 

Sasuke stiffens, then forces himself to relax to give a one-shoulder shrug. 

“Not much to tell, they’re idiots.” 

Itachi makes a humming noise. “I’ve never seen you get so flustered at the mention of a bunch of idiots, little brother.” 

Sasuke scowls harder, looking away to hide the creeping blush on his cheeks as his fingers tighten around his mug. He says nothing, he has no idea what to say that wouldn’t be pretty damn incriminating. His brother’s aggravatingly smart and terribly perceptive without even trying.

“Is the guy you mentioned your boyfriend?” 

The question zaps Sasuke out of his thoughts—the creeping flush overtakes his entire face in heated embarrassment and—he panics. 

“Wh-what?” 

Sasuke _never_ stutters, what the fuck? 

Itachi narrows his eyes at him, he places his mug on the desk behind him then leans forward, elbows resting on his knees as he regards Sasuke with a contemplative expression. 

“Bullseye.” he says. 

Sasuke forces himself to hold his brother’s gaze as he clears his throat,“No. I never said that.” he says, voice even. Betraying nothing, although…a little too late because Itachi sees right through him. 

“I know you, little brother. Better than you know yourself sometimes.” the smile he gives Sasuke is patient and kind. Sasuke immediately hates it. 

He glares, “Yeah well, you’re wrong. He’s just a friend.” 

“But you wish for more?” 

The mug in Sasuke’s hands feels like it might shatter with how hard he’s gripping it. He came here to get _away_ from his emotional turmoil, not have it poked and prodded and brought to the bubbling, boiling surface. 

“No.” He clipped. It doesn’t convince Itachi, nothing will convince Itachi to drop this right now. He’s like a dog with a bone and a large part of Itachi knows he’s right, which is why he’s not letting this go. That stubborn, single-minded motivation is what got him to where he is now at such a young age, it’s as admirable as it is infuriating. 

Itachi is silent, patient. Sasuke hates when he does that, he doesn’t push—not verbally. He pokes at the glowing charcoal embers just enough, then waits until they blaze on their own. 

Sasuke turns his hard stare to the floor, hands itching to do something—anything other than squeeze a mug of cooling tea. He wants to talk, he knows he does. It’s Itachi and Sasuke isn’t afraid to share his struggles with his brother, it’s just that this particular struggle is both humiliating and pathetic. 

But if anyone would know what to do in any situation…it’d be his older brother. 

Sasuke swallows and sets his mug next to him atop the bedside table. 

“I think I—no, I know I…want him,” he admits, voice pitched low as he turns his eyes away from his brother—yeah no way he can look at Itachi right now. “But I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want me back.” 

He flicks his gaze to his brother momentarily to gauge his reaction but Itachi waits for him to continue, expression betraying none of his thoughts. Sasuke scowls irritably. 

“And I don’t think I want to ruin our friendship over these— _feelings._ ” 

He hadn’t meant to spit the word out, but he did and that gets a raised eyebrow from his brother. 

After a moment of consideration, Itachi speaks. “Have you spoken to him at all? Those are a lot of assumptions to make, Sasuke. ” 

Sasuke shakes his head, “Did you not hear me? I don’t want to talk about this with him because I don’t want to risk anything.” 

Itachi frowns. 

“That’s wildly unfair, little brother.” 

“What?” 

“You heard me. It’s unfair and quite frankly downright childish.” 

Sasuke bristles, he opens his mouth to retaliate but Itachi raises a hand to stop him. 

“Before you start yelling, tell me this. Is he the type of guy who’d stop being your friend over something you can’t control?” 

Sasuke pauses then immediately shakes his head ‘no’. He was confident beyond the shadow of a doubt that the idiot would never destroy a friendship over something like this—the guy was still close friends with his ex for Christ’s sake. But that didn’t mean the dynamic itself wouldn’t change. 

“He wouldn’t do it consciously, but—” 

“You don’t get to speculate on what he’d do consciously or subconsciously, there’s absolutely no way for you to know and is thus, irrelevant. So that’s one assumption for you to cross off. What else is worrying you? That he’d reject you?” 

Sasuke grits his teeth, “I know he will.” 

“What makes you so sure?” 

“I know him, I spent almost every moment in the last few months _with_ him, I couldn’t get rid of him even when I tried—I just—I know him.” 

Itachi looks skeptical. “Well, regardless. I think you might be projecting but if you’re so sure then I won’t argue with you. However, it’s still unfair of you to keep this.” 

“How is me keeping _my_ feelings to _myself_ unfair?!” Sasuke snaps. 

Itachi chuckles, “If you were simply keeping them to yourself I wouldn’t be talking to you right now.” Itachi props his chin on his upturned palm, eyes glowing with exasperated fondness. 

“I know you little brother, that reaction downstairs and your entire demeanor right now is screaming of pent-up frustrations, and when you’re frustrated, you tend to aggressively avoid the issue. At least until you decide it’s just not worth it, then you bury it and pretend it never existed. Great coping skills by the way.” 

Sasuke gapes, he’s not proud of it but hell—can you blame him? He hadn’t seen his brother in _months_ and Itachi’s reading him like he was an uninteresting children’s book. 

“Am I wrong?” 

“You’re…not, but I still don’t get how it’s unfair even if I’m not dealing with it well, it’s still _my_ issue.” 

“That’s where you’re wrong, you can avoid issues all you like, little brother. So long as they don’t involve other people. People who have a right to know why you’re avoiding them. You don’t get to decide the course of your friendship for both of you. Whether you want to pursue something more or not is something you should both discuss, otherwise it’ll end up destroying you both.” 

Sasuke’s heart hammers in his chest, his brother’s words forcing a myriad of images into his head. Every time he’d avoided Naruto he’d been met with nothing but sadness, anger, hurt, betrayal and a million other feelings Sasuke knew he’d been the cause of. 

But he thought…damn it, he doesn’t know why he thought it’d be better to hurt them both a little right now than to have them both aching for far more later. 

If he was honest though (really fucking brutally honest), it wasn’t about Naruto’s feelings, it was mostly about his own. His own insecurities and fears rearing their ugly heads at him and gripping his heart with their teeth. 

God, he’d been so selfish. 

At some point during his silence, Itachi moved to sit next to him. Bed dipping a little under his added weight. Itachi settles a comforting hand on Sasuke’s shoulder and squeezes. 

Sasuke feels his body collapsing under the touch, “Itachi…I don’t…I don’t know what I should do. What am I supposed to do?” 

“For starters, you can talk to the guy.” 

Sasuke presses the heels of his palms to his eyes, “What if—what if he rejects me?”

Itachi squeezes again, “That’s a risk you’ll have to take. You’ll lose his friendship along with any potential relationship you might’ve had if you don't.” 

Sasuke feels his brother move. He feels the pain of the flick Itachi delivers swiftly to his forehead, an affectionate gesture he used to do all the time when Sasuke was younger and bugged his brother to play with him all the time. It makes him frown but lift his head to look at the embarrassingly tolerant look on his brother’s face. 

“Besides, I have a feeling things will turn out fine,” Itachi says, hand ruffling Sasuke’s hair a bit. 

Sasuke glares, looking very much like a ruffled cat as he slaps Itachi’s hand out of his hair. “Quit it—I’m not five anymore, Itachi.” 

“Don’t act like it then,” Itachi retorts with a snort. “Now get some sleep, and when you go back make sure you talk to this boy, alright?” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Sasuke stands up, rolling his eyes as he moves for the door, he pauses. Hand hovering over the doorknob. “Hey—uhh, thanks…for this.” 

He doesn’t turn back to see his brother and steps out immediately, a tiny blush coloring his cheeks. It turns into a full-blown flush when he hears Itachi’s reply. 

“Bring him home during Spring break!” 

He doesn’t know if Itachi meant as a friend or a lover—no, he meant lover. He definitely meant lover. 

Sasuke hides in his room for the rest of the evening. 

 

_______________________

 

Sasuke couldn’t sleep. After his conversation with Itachi he’d gone straight to his room to turn in early, but clearly, his mind had other ideas. 

He couldn’t stop thinking about Naruto, how heartbroken he sounded last night by his door. How he’d told Sasuke he’d wait for him, even though Sasuke’s withdrawal was clearly bothering him, enough for him to drunkenly make his way to the apartment and have a heart to heart with Sasuke’s _door._

Sasuke tossed and turned all night trying to block out these thoughts, but he couldn’t control their flow. They came uninvited with images and flashbacks of his entire relationship with Naruto. 

Itachi’s right, Naruto didn’t deserve this, he deserved honesty. It’s the least he could do, to offer the guy a choice right? Sasuke had simply decided for him, decided to take things into his own hands and spare them both—what? The pain? He’d inadvertently ended up causing them both pain anyway. It hadn’t been his intention, sure, but it’s still not an excuse. 

Naruto’s been nothing but forthcoming with him, patient and understanding. 

Sasuke throws an arm over his eyes and grits his teeth. He ended up taking Naruto for granted—something he never thought he’d do. 

Perhaps a small part of him knew that Naruto would take anything Sasuke threw at him, even if he feared losing him—maybe a part of him wanted to test that theory out, to see if Naruto would end up pushing him away too and then Sasuke wouldn’t have to personally _deal_ with all this… 

He wouldn’t have to make a choice. It’d be out of his hands. 

He’s such a fucking coward, a word he never thought he’d ever associate with himself but it didn’t make it any less true. He’d been so scared—still is scared—to lose Naruto, a part of him was trying to force it to happen anyway. You can’t lose what you never had anyway, right? 

No, that wasn’t entirely true. He has Naruto, he has probably a large part of Naruto even. Maybe not in the way that he wants anymore, but that shouldn’t make him reject their entire relationship—they still had one after all. 

Sasuke sits up in his bed, a burning urge settling deeply into him. 

He wants to talk to Naruto. He wants to—God, he wants to _see_ him. 

He wants to be honest, he suddenly wants to do all the things he’d been avoiding. He doesn’t want to run anymore—he can’t. 

The thought of talking to Naruto terrifies him still, but he’s filled with a sudden motivation to just get it over with. He can’t keep carrying this. His brother’s right, he needs to _act_. 

It’s not even about the last few days, no, if Sasuke were completely honest, he’d been carrying this since he met Naruto a few months ago—he just hadn’t known it. 

He hadn’t known just how much Naruto meant to him, how much more he wanted from him, like he was some insatiable beast and craved everything the blond could offer him and more. 

He thinks he might be okay with whatever Naruto ends up giving him, even if it’s the farthest thing from what he really wants. 

Sasuke grimaces—ugh, Sakura’s right. He’s got it bad. 

Adrenaline pumping, Sasuke grabs his phone and winces at the time; it’s fucking two in the morning but he doesn’t care. He can feel his heart jumping to his throat as he opens his text messages (he’s got a couple from both Sakura and Ino wishing him a happy vacation) he opens the thread with Naruto and types a quick: _Can we talk?_

He misspelled talk three times before he finally got it right and sent the message, all the while his fingers trembling with every movement. 

_Get a fucking grip, Uchiha. Get a grip, get a grip, get a grip—_

He doesn’t even know if Naruto’s awake right now, he doesn’t even know what he’s going to say if he is. Fuck, shit, what is he going to _say_? 

He doesn’t get to think on it long because evidently, Naruto _is_ awake and the reply comes no more than two minutes later. 

 

_ya wnt me to call ???_

 

Sasuke lets out a soft huff at Naruto’s atrocious texting style. It used to irritate the shit out of him and Naruto would purposely misspell every other word just to annoy him even more. 

Seriously? This loser? He likes _this_ idiot? 

He shakes his head and types his reply. 

 

_No. I want to see you._

 

He doesn’t even know what he’s doing at this point, he’s just going with the flow. Obviously, some part of him knows what he wants so he’s just going to go for it. He’d never been this…impulsive before, it’s fucking exhilarating, he feels drunk on the adrenaline. Which is good, because it’s probably powering the whole thing, it feels like he was standing on the edge of a high-rise and he’s looking down—about to jump. 

 

_uhh it’s 2 am u do kno tht???_

 

Sasuke rolls his eyes. moving to type: _No shit, Sherlock_ when another text comes in. 

 

_Im free anyway do u wnna come over?_

 

Sasuke texts his reply in seconds. 

 

_I’ll be there in an hour._

 

He’s out of his bed in a flash. Moving to grab his car keys off the nightstand and a Winter jacket out of his closet, he doesn’t even think to change out of his sweatpants and ratty black shirt, mind too focused on _holy fucking shit I’m doing this. Shit. Shit. Shi—_

He’s out of his room, flying down the spiraling staircase and in their family garage in under a minute. Keys unlocking his car as he immediately settles in to turn it on. Engine purring to life as he grips the steering wheel, exhaling a long breath and moves to back out of the parking space. He’s out of his family’s mansion before he can even really think about backing out of this. 

He doesn’t want to think. He’s tired of thinking. He wants to do. 

So do he does. 

He’s driving silently down the highway to Naruto’s place for a while, mind carefully blank. Then he decides to turn on the radio, he’s that one guy that doesn’t actually use his phone for music (Naruto had been horrified at that fact). Soon he settles on a popular station and he’s blasting soft music as he makes his way through the empty roads, mouthing the lyrics to some of the songs. He nearly groans when _Killing Me Softly_ starts playing. Yeah, no, he doesn’t need this song in his head right now, he changes stations. Annoyed when the next station plays _Take Me To Church_. Yeah, fuck no to that too, he changes it again and lets the beat of an unfamiliar song wash over him. 

The guitar riffs were reminiscent of Blues rock and it makes him relax a little. The music making his head bob softly to its beat. 

 

_I dreamt about you nearly every night this week_

_How many secrets can you keep?_

_'Cause there's this tune I found that makes me think of you somehow_

_When I play it on repeat_

_Until I fall asleep_

_Spilling drinks on my settee_

_Do I wanna know_

_If this feeling flows both ways?_

 

Sasuke stiffens at the words—you’ve got to be shitting—

 

_Crawlin’ back to you_

_Ever thought of calling when you’ve had a few?_

 

Sasuke lets out a frustrated choked sound and promptly turns off the radio. Fuck this, was the world trying to tell him something? He doesn’t have time to contemplate that because he arrives at Naruto’s block in a few more minutes, it usually takes him much longer to get to the city from his parents’ place but the roads were empty. The whole drive took around thirty minutes instead of the usual hour. 

Sasuke parallel parks in front of Naruto’s building and leans to look out the passenger window. Naruto’s apartment lights were still on, he and his roommates must all still be awake. Makes sense, they’ve all got a break—one he should be spending with his family, but here he is, about to bare his soul for the only real friend he’s ever made. 

Sasuke’s heart picks up its pace again, trying to beat itself out of his ribcage. He leans back and exhales, long and languid as he grips and un-grips the wheel. 

“I can do this…fucking do this, Uchiha. Just get out there and get it over with.” he tells himself repeatedly. He fishes out his phone and thumbs open the screen to Naruto’s chat, he texts a quick: _I’m here_. ignoring the trembling of his fingers. 

Then he waits. It doesn’t take Naruto long, he sees him standing by the open window, blond head leaning out to look for Sasuke’s car. Sasuke can’t see his expression from here, but Naruto must spot him because he gets a text of: _coming down_

_—_ His heart jackhammers in his chest, he wrings his fingers as he takes steady breaths. He exhales twice before he cuts the engine and steps out into the biting Winter air. 

Fuck, it’s cold. Sasuke immediately regrets not wearing a long-sleeved shirt under his jacket.

In the next minute though, he forgets about his cold hands because Naruto is walking out of his building, dressed in sweats, snow boots, and a puffy jacket, the hood’s faux fur covering his blond hair. 

He stands a foot away from Sasuke, hands in his pockets and offers a tiny, surprised smile. 

“Yo. Didn’t think I’d see you this soon.” 

Sasuke relaxes a bit at seeing Naruto act so casual, he shrugs in reply. 

Naruto’s smile falls at that, like he suddenly remembers where they left off the last time and he shuffles, “So why are you here?” 

Sasuke swallows his nerves and dives in, “I told you, we need to talk.” he says as casually as he can. 

Naruto crosses his arms, his eyes narrowing as he scoffs. “No, no Sasuke. _We_ really don’t. _You_ need to talk.” 

Sasuke glares right back, fuck, he forgot how stubborn Naruto can be. Where was the tipsy and vulnerable Naruto of last night? Sober Naruto is definitely not going to make this easy for Sasuke. 

“Fine, whatever. _I_ need to talk—” 

“More like explain yourself.” Naruto cuts him off with a snort this time all petulant. 

Sasuke doesn’t look at him, his own irritation erasing his anxiety as it manifests in a vile scowl on his face. He does absently note their voices rising in pitch but he can’t bring himself to care at the moment. 

“Okay, moron. I get it I’ve been a little shit—”

“Try giant dick.” 

“—Ugh, would you shut up? I’m trying to explain myself here.” Sasuke finally explodes. 

Their loud voices attract attention, Naruto’s roommates clamor by the window in seconds, Sasuke notes three different heads squeezing together and they all simultaneously yell down different sentences of: 

“Naruto! Buddy, do you need help?!” 

“Troublesome, who is it?” 

“Naruto! Stop yelling!”

Naruto rolls his eyes and whirls around to yell, loud enough to make Sasuke grimace: 

“It’s just Sasuke! Go away!” 

“Aight, do I bring my bat?!” That’s definitely Kiba. Sasuke flips him off, not caring if the idiot actually sees it or not. 

“Go back inside, Dog-breath!” Naruto yells, one arm waving him off dismissively. He turns his attention back to Sasuke. 

“Why does he want to bring his bat?” 

Naruto winces at that and offers Sasuke a nervous shrug. “I mighhhht’ve gotten drunk and told him about how much of a shit you’ve been.” 

“I—alright, I deserve that.” 

Naruto sighs, shakes his head, then lets his tense shoulders fall. His eyes regard Sasuke with something akin to disappointment. It makes Sasuke instinctively bite the inside of his cheek. “You deserve a lot of things Sasuke.” Naruto agrees quietly. 

Sasuke cards a hand through his hair, a small sigh leaving his lips. He shifts minutely before he speaks again, “Can we do this somewhere else?” 

Naruto nods, and waves for Sasuke to follow him.“There’s a park a couple of blocks from here. We could go there.” 

Sasuke nods his approval and they make their way to the park in complete, awkward silence. Both too tense to actually talk, and neither wanting to engage in needless small talk. 

Once they’re there, Sasuke takes note of the jungle gym that’s covered in frost and snow. The ground too, the snow crunches under their footsteps as they make their way to the bench. Sasuke’s about to push the piling snow off when Naruto nudges him with an elbow. He turns a questioning brow to the blond who nods towards the swings with a small smile. 

Sasuke holds back his own smile. Naruto’s still a giant fucking kid. They both make their way to the swings, Naruto plopping down on one while Sasuke eases himself onto the rubber seat. 

Naruto’s swinging gently for a couple of minutes while Sasuke tries to calm his erratic heartbeat. Now that they’re alone, with no one to interrupt them, his anxiety’s making itself known by attacking his head with rapid worst-case scenarios. Sasuke breathes deeply as he listens to the creaking swing of the guy he’s carrying a burning fire for. 

The distraction doesn’t last for long, because it seems Naruto has the patience of a customer on Black Friday. 

“So what’s up? Are you here to rip the rest of my heart out?” the way he says it is so blasé that Sasuke is momentarily shocked. Rip his heart—

“What? No! I wasn’t trying—Naruto that’s not…” he struggles, stumbling over his thoughts and words. 

“Look I get it, if you don’t want me in your life, I get—okay I don’t get it, but I would appreciate you just telling me to my face alright? Maybe tell me why too.” Naruto sniffs. Still swinging slightly, legs propelling him forward. 

Sasuke is honestly dumbfounded. He’s not even trying to hide it. His jaw’s open, eyes wide, eyebrows shooting to his hairline. How on earth could Naruto actually think that’s what Sasuke wants? Is that what he thought fueled Sasuke’s behavior? 

He shakes his head, forcing himself to speak. “No…Naruto, that’s definitely not what I want.” 

“Then what do you want? Use your words Uchiha.” Naruto’s tone is condescending, and it irritates Sasuke some, but it also hurts. It hurts because it’s _his_ fault. _He_ did this. And _he_ has to fix it. 

“That’s—argh, that’s what I’m trying to do you giant moron! Just—” 

Naruto scoffs, “Yeah great job—”

Sasuke growls, “Let me finish! Don’t interrupt me, for the next few minutes, just fucking listen alright? ‘cause I can’t do this again. I won’t do this again. So for once in your life, can you just shut the fuck up and listen?” 

Naruto slows his swinging, the look on his face is severely offended, but he nods for Sasuke to continue. 

Sasuke tries to gather his thoughts and think of what he wants to say first. They’re both swaying slightly on the swing set now. He tries to think of where to start and it only serves to frustrate him so Sasuke decides to just jump right in and just blurt the first thing that comes to his mind. He clears his throat and doesn’t look at Naruto, choosing to stare at a particularly interesting patch of white snow on the ground. Naruto is silent next to him which gives him the final push. 

Sasuke takes a deep breath.

“I’ve never—look, I’m sorry. I’ve never done this before, okay? I’ve never had a—I’ve never had a friend before you. So all this…it’s very new.” 

Sasuke flicks his gaze to his friend and Naruto nods for him to continue, confused but encouraging. He looks away again, heat making its way his face slowly. 

“I don’t know when this thing inside me started—I have no idea what to even do with it because I’ve never felt this way about anyone in my life. I’ve never—“ 

Sasuke cuts himself off, gritting his teeth—God this is the hardest thing he’s ever had to do in his entire life. He fucking hates it. He refuses to look at Naruto again after seeing those blue eyes widen with mounting understanding. 

“I’ve never been in a relationship before. I don’t know how to be in one, I don’t know what’s okay and what isn’t. I don’t know how to deal with these feelings I have around you—I just, it’s too much—and I can’t help it. I can’t fucking control it. 

“I don’t know how to deal with you, I don’t know how to be your friend anymore without wanting more and I don’t want this to affect our friendship—God, that’s the last thing I want.” Sasuke pauses, swallowing and squeezing his eyes shut. Every cell in his body screaming at him to shut up. To stop, and go home and bury himself under his covers. 

“But I don’t know if it’s enough either, I don’t know—I don’t know anything and Jesus fucking Christ, Naruto. I don’t even understand why _you_ of all people, you drive me half insane—you’re constantly in my face or draped all over me, you leave your clothes fucking everywhere, your aim fucking sucks idiot, at least clean up after yourself when you miss the bowl—" Sasuke ignores Naruto’s indignant squawk, "—you don’t even do your own dishes and I’m running out of dishsoap—I have to recycle at least twice a week because you have a disgusting love for all things processed and ramen and I find myself wanting to punch that stupid fucking grin right off your face more times than not—“ 

He takes a breath and lifts the heel of his palms to dig into his eyes, elbows resting on his knees. 

_Shit, shit—here goes nothing…_

“I’m just not good at this, Naruto. But if you’ll have me— _Fuck_ , if you’ll have me, I’ll do my best…” 

He hates how his voice breaks. Feeling betrayed by his own body at revealing _so_ damn much. Fuck, Sasuke’s throat is sore—Holy shit, he doesn’t think he’s ever spoken so much in one sitting in his entire life. He refuses to look at Naruto, still hiding behind his palms. 

The silence that answers him is suffocating and he thinks he should move, go back to his car. Run and never ever see Naruto again— but then, he hears Naruto move from his swing, shoes crunching the piling snow as he crouches in front of Sasuke. 

Naruto’s warm gloved hands settle on Sasuke’s knees and it makes him freeze under the touch, eyes flashing open behind his hands in spite of himself. It’s not unusual for Naruto to touch him, to be affectionate in general, but in that moment it was terrifyingly foreign. 

“Can I talk now?” Naruto asks quietly. 

Sasuke, face still hidden behind his hands, nods once. Too embarrassed to do more, feeling too bare, too _raw_. 

“Sasuke, hey—hey, look at me.” 

Sasuke resists, he can’t. Not right now. His face is burning and his heart is all ready to run and take his soul with it. His mind’s already conjuring up rejection after rejection and—He just _can’t_. 

Naruto’s gloved hands wrap around his wrists, tugging gently but not forcefully. 

“Please,” 

It’s the plea that gets to him. So Sasuke lets his hands be tugged down and he’s finally allowing himself to look at Naruto, to tear his defenses down and face the guy he’d been running away from for days. 

Naruto whose eyes are shining with unshed tears. Naruto who has a pink flush to his cheeks, who exhales a shuddering breath when their eyes meet. Naruto, whose hands tremble around Sasuke’s. Naruto, whose lips are gnawed raw. Naruto who gives him a wobbly smile. 

The blond takes a breath then starts, “First of all, I seriously thought you hated my guts you bastard. I was so fucking scared I’d lost you. Second of all, you’re a jerk, a very emotionally stunted jerk—”

Sasuke tries to jerk his wrist free instinctively, heart squeezing painfully in his chest at what his mind perceives as the beginnings of a rejection, but Naruto doesn’t let go and tugs them back with a squeeze.

“I’m not finished. Yes, you’re a jerk, but I’ve learned to accept that about you because—shit, I know your heart, asshole. As embarrassing as that sounds, I accept those things about you because I see so much more buried right here,” 

Naruto lifts one of his hands to place an open palm against Sasuke’s heart. Sasuke inhales sharply and thinks about how embarrassing it is that Naruto can probably feel how fast and hard it’s beating. 

His body though, in a moment of need—instead of pushing away, decides to lift one of his own hands to wrap his fingers around Naruto’s against him. His fingers squeeze Naruto’s and he doesn’t know why his body is moving without his consent but at the moment, he doesn’t care. 

Every fibre of his being is attuned to Naruto, to his words and the implications behind them. 

Naruto smiles, the blush on his cheeks darkening, then he’s continuing. 

“I know you mean well, even if you don’t show it—hell, sometimes I see you physically stomping it down in order to come off as a jerk. So yeah, I’m not unaware of how much you struggle with expressing yourself, asshole. I deal with it every day and I like to believe I’ve been doing great so far.” 

Naruto goes quiet, seemingly done and Sasuke’s not sure that really answers anything, so he asks. 

“I’m not sure I know where you’re going with this…”

Naruto is then smiling wide and with teeth, cheeks, and nose dusting pink from the cold, or maybe out of anxiousness or embarrassment, or a combination of all three. 

Either way, Naruto’s suddenly standing up, hand slipping from underneath Sasuke’s. 

Sasuke watches him take off his gloves only to throw them carelessly in a pile of snow on the ground. 

Then, he’s bending over to cradle Sasuke’s cheeks in his warm hands, tilting Sasuke’s head upward. Sasuke’s completely frozen over, he doesn’t even know if he’s really registering what’s happening, but he must be…because an unbidden smile takes over Sasuke’s lips at the warmth he feels unfurling deep in his stomach as Naruto bends over to gently press his lips against Sasuke’s. 

For a moment, Sasuke stiffens at the touch, then he feels every taut muscle in his body uncoil, feels the blood in his veins singing with relief. His heart soaring and thumping wildly like the excited cheers of fans in a stadium. Some part of him vaguely notes that it’s snowing, but he couldn’t possibly feel hotter than in that moment. 

Naruto’s kiss is so soft Sasuke thinks it resembles the falling snow around them. His lips are chapped and cold but Sasuke’s never felt anything so scorching. His own hands are sliding upwards into Naruto’s hair, pushing the hood off and pulling him closer as his body rises with the movement. 

Their lips disconnect for a second before they return to greet each other in another, more fervent kiss. Both of them standing now, Naruto’s arms move to wrap around Sasuke’s neck, while one of Sasuke’s wrap around Naruto’s waist, his other hand going to cup Naruto’s jaw, fingers settling against a cold, scarred cheek and thumb moving to trace absentmindedly on Naruto’s chin. His lips taste so sweet, like cherries and gummy bears and Sasuke hates sweets—he thinks he might change his preferences. 

Sasuke kisses the boy’s plump lower lip and sighs in content when Naruto kisses him back with a grin. 

Fuck, is this really happening? If this is a dream, if he’s in his bed right now—he wishes he’d never wake up. 

Naruto’s placing soft kisses on his lips and Sasuke smiles between them. When they both pull back, it’s to rest their foreheads against each other, they can both see their breaths mingling in the cold air, snow piling on top of both their heads, but neither of them caring very much. 

Sasuke’s thumb moves to caress the blond’s lower lip, moving back and forth across the reddened flesh. Not even stopping when Naruto places a quick kiss on his thumb, then turns his head slightly to place another one to Sasuke’s palm.

“Does that answer your question?” Naruto asks. Referring to the last thing Sasuke said.

Sasuke hums, mind drunk and completely blank, “I’m going to kiss you again.” he says absently, thumb still stroking Naruto’s lower lip. 

Naruto licks his lips, but the smile doesn’t waver, and Sasuke kisses it. This time his lips meet a bit of teeth and Naruto lets out a dumb little giggle, giving Sasuke the opportunity to deepen their kiss. He pushes his tongue past lips to touch Naruto’s, a little hesitantly, and for a startling moment they’re both still, their entire bodies focused on that heated touch, then Sasuke’s met with an enthusiastic moan and then— _fire_. 

Wild, scorching heat travels in his bloodstream. He thinks he’s burning from the inside out and he’s never felt anything better. He feels consumed, alive, mind whiting out as his arm pulls Naruto further into him, purely acting on instinct. Naruto tilts his head and winds his arms tighter around Sasuke’s neck, bare fingers tangling in snow dampened hair. 

Their tongues meet in a sloppy greeting, twisting and sliding as they both try to map each other out, movements uncoordinated and urgent in their need. Like two teenagers experiencing their first open-mouthed kiss behind the bleachers of the baseball field. 

Naruto’s biting Sasuke’s lip, dragging a pleasantly surprised noise out of him, which only encourages Naruto to kiss the abuse away. He’s laughing breathlessly into Sasuke’s mouth. 

By all rights, it should feel weird and awkward, but all Sasuke feels is pure joy. He’s never felt this way before, he’s never felt like he’s found _home_ in another person. The thought is startling in its intensity, but he doesn't think too much on it when Naruto’s laughter is loud and infectious.

Sasuke finds himself chuckling in between wet kisses. Lips hitting teeth more than lips at this point and both trembling from the cold and the rush of adrenaline. 

They pull apart slightly to catch their breaths, but Sasuke tightens his hold around Naruto’s back. 

To which Naruto shakes his head with a fondness that’s both familiar and entirely strange to Sasuke. Naruto leans in again to place a chaste kiss against his lips in stark contrast to the ones they just shared. Sasuke kisses back, chasing, still hungry, but Naruto’s laughing again. 

Then, he proceeds to lay gross, tiny kisses across Sasuke’s face, his nose, his cheeks, his forehead, his lips—it doesn’t stop and Sasuke scowls, pulling his face side to side to get away from them, but there’s a wide, stupid smile that he can’t seem to get rid of even when this moron is completely ruining their moment. 

They don’t say anything, for a few minutes, they’re just silently drinking each other in. Eyes exploring and mapping out each other’s faces like they’re looking at each other for the first time and Sasuke’s heart hammers the thought home. 

This is more than a simple crush. 

The depth of his feelings scare him, but right now? Right now he doesn’t fucking care about anything other than the boy in his arms. He doesn’t think about all the things they still need to talk about, all the things they need to work through. He doesn’t think about what this means exactly, or just how terrifying it is. He doesn’t think about anything other than the blue eyes crinkling in happiness. 

Before he can think about it, Sasuke’s lips meet Naruto’s forehead and lingers there for a couple of seconds. He doesn’t miss the hitching of Naruto’s breath, but the blond’s arms are winding around his waist so he doesn’t think much of it. 

They start making their way back to Naruto’s building, still completely entangled in one another. Sasuke’s arm around Naruto’s neck, dangling across his shoulder, and Naruto’s own around his waist, hand settling against Sasuke’s hip. His other hand moves to entwine their fingers with Sasuke’s over Naruto’s shoulder.

The walk back is silent, slow, and taken in measured steps. This time the silence is freeing, like they don’t really need to say anything right now. Right now, it’s just—perfect.

When they reach the building, they stop in front of Sasuke’s car. Naruto turns to lay his back against the passenger door, and tugs Sasuke towards him. Forcing him to step into his space and Sasuke, for once welcomes it wholeheartedly. 

“So, who should I thank?” Naruto asks, fingers still entwined with Sasuke as he squeezes. 

Sasuke’s so high off the endorphins he doesn’t register the question. “What?” 

“Who’s the one that pushed you into doing this?” 

The dopey smile he didn’t even know was on his face falls off, replaced by an embarrassed glare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

Naruto laughs openly, effectively adding to Sasuke’s embarrassment. 

“Oh come on Sasuke. I know you well enough to know you’re stubborn enough to live in denial for the rest of your life if it meant avoiding anything unpleasant.” 

Sasuke’s not looking at him, face twisting to the right as he scowls. 

“…Itachi…and Sakura, a little bit.” 

“Sakura?! Sakura knew?”

“She called it before I even did.” He’s still scowling when Naruto bursts into peels of laughter, head thrown back and it thumps against Sasuke’s car. Their fingers break with the movement and Sasuke shoves his hands deep into his pockets. 

“It’s not funny.” 

“Hooooooo my god—I can’t believe Sakura— wow—I couldn’t even tell—” he cuts off with more laughter. Sasuke rolls his eyes. 

“That girl is way too smart for her own good.” Naruto says, shoulders still shaking with subdued giggles. 

“For _our_ own good.” Sasuke agrees. 

Naruto nods, he chuckles a bit before he pulls Sasuke in by his pockets, sliding his hands inside to cuddle up next to Sasuke’s own hands and he ‘hmms’ into Sasuke’s lips, successfully wiping away the petulant irritation with small kisses. Shit, Sasuke is _weak_. 

He returns the kisses anyway with a subtle twitch of his lips. God he’s really too far gone on this boy. He feels like he’s floating. 

“I’m getting us ramen to celebrate tomorrow.” 

The blissed out smile promptly falls off Sasuke’s face. “No.” 

“You ignored me for three days. You don’t get a vote, Uchiha.” Naruto points out, laying soft kisses on his jaw. Sasuke’s eyes close on their own and he’s trying to object vehemently, but Naruto shuts him up with a hurried kiss. 

“No choice.”He kisses Sasuke one last time, then whispers a: “Good night, bastard!”

—and before Sasuke could object, Naruto’s already sliding out of his hold and disappearing behind his building’s door. 

Sasuke’s standing frozen in his spot. Considering. He already had trouble saying no to Naruto before, and now Naruto has found another way to render Sasuke _completely_ useless. 

 

Jesus, he was done for. 

_____________________

 

** End **

_____________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit, this was a ride, the last chapter was so long. Props to you if you got through this entire mess in one sitting.  
> There were so many things I had to cut out of this chapter, I wanted to fit in some things I discussed with a reader, I wanted to actually add an epilogue or like an Omake with Naruto and Sasuke actually getting that puppy but this story was getting way too long (IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A DAMN ONE SHOT WHAT THE FUCK I HAVE NO SELF CONTROL!!!!)  
> I know Naruto’s feelings were never really touched on, but it’s up to you to decide when he actually started realizing he liked Sasuke and just kinda…didn’t really do anything about it because he too thought Sasuke wouldn’t be interested (can you blame him?).  
> Anyway, I don’t know if anyone would be interested in seeing more of these two morons in this AU, I do have some drabbles planned out that I might attach as like short side-stories, but I don’t know if I should invest any effort in them or just let these two morons r e s t (more like let myself rest) or if anyone would be interested. I want to write awkward first-times for them (not like explicit 'cause I can't do those either) and I want to write about some of Itachi’s retail experiences and when they meet each other’s respective families, but like…I’m bad at self-control. I start out with a goal of 2k words and end up with 45k.  
> Anyway, I’ll stop rambling now. Thank you all for being so patient with the last chapter. Endings are hard.  
> Thanks to each and every one of you who commented, left kudos, or bookmarked this mess of a story. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.  
> Please don’t forget to leave a comment and let me know what you thought about the last chapter!  
> I do plan to go back and edit this but I won't change anything major.  
> Stay tuned for more terrible SNS stories (If I ever plan to post the rest)!


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